I played a game of Warhammer 40,000 recently up at the Battle Bunker in Downer's Grove, Illinois. They have tons of space there, and a lot of really great tables to play on that are definitely an interesting change of pace from the tables and terrain I am used to playing on.
The game was a Planetstrike, with 1500 points of my Chaos Space Marines as the attacker, and 1500 points of Orks defending. We played on a great looking table of an Ork camp with lots of destroyed vehicles and debris all over the table, and several ramshackle Ork buildings. It was my second game of Planetstrike, and my opponent's first. He placed one Bastion on the table to represent an overrun former Imperial defensive position that the Orks captured and built their camp around. This we didn't make an objective. Instead, we selected three of the Ork buildings to act as objectives. We assigned them an armor value of 12, because they didn't look very sturdy. The buildings already had some defensive weapons built into them, and we added a few others. We played the first mission in the Planetstrike book.
Because it was my Chaos Space Marine army facing Orks, I decided I should tie the story into the Attraignnor IV campaign storyline. It takes place right after the conclusion of the campaign. The Orks that had infested Attraignnor IV had been driven from the capitol city, at great cost, by the planetary defense forces shortly before the beginning of the campaign. The remnants of the Ork force congregated outside the city walls and were mostly ignored while the civil war raged in the capitol city. During this time, the Orks mostly squabbled amongst themselves, but eventually one of them managed to gain dominance over the bickering groups and become Warboss of the remaining Orks.
The new Warboss created an Ork base camp outside the capitol city constructed of the leftover junk from the war and began preparing his forces to attack the human defenders once again. With its defense forces so completely depleted by the original war with the Orks, followed by the brutal civil war in the streets of the capitol, defending the city from a renewed Ork attack might prove difficult for the exhausted planetary defense force. So just before leaving the planet, the Crusaders chapter of Chaos Space marines decided to help the world out once more by decapitating the Ork threat. They located the base camp where the Warboss was located, and sent in an elite force to eliminate it.
The spear tip was led by Lord Agramon himself, barely recovered from his previous wounds during the campaign for the capitol city. He would drop into the middle of the camp with two units of 6 Terminators, a unit of 7 Raptors, and a unit of three obliterators. Unfortunately, during the campaign several members of the chapter succumbed to the warping, corrupting influence of chaos and became mutated possessed marines. These would drop in with the initial force as well, in hopes that they would redeem their disgrace by dying gloriously. To support the attack, two units of Khorne Berzerkers mounted in Rhinos would approach the camp at full speed along a road leading from the city, and plow headlong into the fight. It was hoped that they would arrive just as the rest of the force teleported down into the center of the camp. The timing was slightly off, however. One unit arrived slightly late, and the other was delayed by mechanical trouble and never arrived at all!
There was actually only one unit of Berzerkers in the army list, but I took the strategem that allows you to select a unit of troops, and once they are eliminated from the game, an identical unit shows up the next turn. I choose the Berzerkers, as they were my only troops, but since they never got wiped out, their replacements never arrived.
The Orks had a pretty elite force of their own, since the camp was mostly occupied by the Warboss's personal bodyguards. He had with him three units of nobs, all of them drugged up so they could shrug off all but the most severe wounds. There were also two large units of boyz defending the camp and some grot artillery as well as a weirdboy, who was probably the warboss's spiritual advisor/seer. They also had a dreadnaught and a battle tank next to one of the buildings. The Orks were not expecting an attack, and were mostly in or on top of the ramshackle buildings. The artillery was on the roof of the highest building to provide fire support in case of an attack, though they were mostly concerned with an attack from other Orks trying to usurp the new warboss.
Just before dawn, the chaos fleet fired a single barrage at the Ork camp. One of the buildings was destroyed by the barrage, which also killed several Orks and stunned the Dreadnaught. In the resulting confusion immediately following the barrage, the spear tip force teleported into the midst of the camp, taking the Orks completely by surprise. Considering the darkness, the teleportation was fairly accurate. However, one unit of Terminators which was attempting to land close enough to capture the tallest building, went a little off course. Too far away from the destroyed building to assault its inhabitants, they fired on the nearest unit of Ork boyz outside a second building. But their exposed position left them vulnerable to a charge from the Warboss and his retinue. The fighting was fierce, but the ferocity of the Orks with their power klaws who were nearly impervious to harm overwhelmed the Terminators.
A second unit of Terminators and Lord Agramon landed near another building. As he swooped down on his daemonic wings, Lord Agramon was targeted by the automated quad-interceptor autocannons. The uncannily accurate defensive fire from these batteries managed to inflict two serious wounds on the commander before the battle even began. He landed on the battlefield in a fury, looking for revenge.
The terminators fired on the same unit of boyz the other unit had fired on, since they were the most immediate threat. They killed several, mostly with their heavy flamer, but many remained. The terminators charged the survivors, killing many and losing two of their own, but the Orks were still numerous enough to stay and fight. After another round of brutal melee another Terminator had fallen, but most of the remaining Orks were killed. The few survivors fled the battle.
Upon landing, Agramon immediately charged at the middle building, wanting to get at the Orks inside. With all of his might he kicked down the large steel front door. The door went flying through the inside of the building, taking out several structural supports, before blasting out the back wall, destroying a bank of automated lasguns. The damage caused the building to collapse, pinning the unit of Nobz inside it.
The Obliterators landed on a hill in the far corner of the battlefield near the third to give them the best line of sight. They opened fire on the building in front of them, which had a large unit of Ork boyz on the roof. The building also contained the Ork ammunition stores, which the multi-melta shots hit, causing the building to explode in spectacular fashion. Many of the Orks on the room were killed in the blast, and the rest slowly pulled their way out of the rubble to fire off a few ineffective shots back at the Obliterators.
The raptors landed right on target behind the tank and the dreadnaught, who were next to the third building. The dreadnaught had been stunned by the orbital bombardment, and was therefore no immediate threat. So the raptors targeted the tank with their melta gun and a plasma pistol, and managed to blow up the main cannon. They followed up by charging at the rear of the tank, pelting it with krak grenades while the champion placed a melta bomb on the tracks. The shower of grenades took out the twin-linked big shootas, and the meltabomb blew off the tracks immobilizing the weaponless tank. The crew hunkered inside the now harmless vehicle.
The long range artillery and defensive weapons the Orks had were largely ineffective the entire battle. Due to the darkness, the Orks and their automated weapons had difficulty picking out the black armored Chaos Marines.
The disgraced Possessed Marines made their way out of the pile of rubble they had dropped into, and suicidally charged towards the Warboss and his retinue, hoping to redeem themselves in death. They only managed to kill one nob and wounding the Warboss before being slaughtered by the fury of the massive Orks, their daemonic protection completely failing them as they were smashed apart by flailing power klaws. The Warboss's unit had now massacred his way through two units without slowing down, though the casualties to his retinue were beginning to mount.
The three remaining Terminators near the second building advanced on the pinned nobz in the building's wreckage. The fired on them, their heavy flamer particularly effective, but the drugged up nobz shrugged off the worst of it. The Terminators then charged in to finish them off. One more of the Terminators was cut down, but the rest killed most of the nobz, with the single survivor retreating from the battle. Just as the two final Terminators were regrouping from the combat, the Warboss charged them. Both the Warboss and the Terminators were exhausted from fighting their way through two enemy units as they readed to do battle again. Power fists and power klaw struck home, and the result was both terminators and the Warboss being taken out of the fight with grievous wounds. Several nobz and the painboy remained, demoralized at the loss of their leader.
After knocking down the building, Lord Agramon turned his attention to the recovering dreadnaught. He furiously pummeled the walking tin can with his gauntleted fists, but could manage no more than to shake and stun the vehicle, which hardly affected its ability to fight back. He Ork pilot inside held his ground, eventually smashing Lord Agramon to the ground with the dreadnaught's massive fist.
Thinking Lord Agramon would take care of the Dreadnaught, the Raptors flew over to the wreckage of the third building. They fired flamer and bolt pistols at the Ork boyz tangled up in the wreckage, and followed up by assaulting the survivors. The ferocious onslaught was too much, and the Orks were completely wiped out. At the same time, the first unit of Khorne Berzerkers arrived on the battlefield, tearing down the road that ran down the length of the battlefield at full speed, towards the middle building which now contained the remnants of the Warboss's retinue.
After more ineffective defensive fire from the Ork automated weapons, dawn finally began to show itself. They Raptors saw Lord Agramon lying unconscious before the Dreadnaught and came immediately to his aid. Their meltagunner fired at the machine at point blank range, and it exploded in a magnificent fireball, which luckily didn't injure any of the Raptors.
The Berzerkers continued at full speed towards the middle Ork building, while in the growing daylight the obliterators poured fire into the remaining Nobz inside it. Two more were killed, and without their Warboss to lead them, the rest lost their will to fight and retreated.
The three Obliterators moved up to capture the third building, and the Berzerkers disembarked from their rhino to capture the middle building. The Raptors moved at full speed towards the remains of the tallest building, which had been destroyed by the initial bombardment. It was now only guarded by a handful of grots, with the weirdboy and one nob remaining outside the building. But they saw that the battle was lost, and retreated as well.
With the Warboss dead and the camp captured, the Orks surrounding it scattered to the winds to once again fight amongst themselves until a new boss could emerge to unite them by conquest. The Crusaders marines turned the area over to the people of Attraignnor IV, who would station all of the planetary defense forces they could spare in the ruined areas outside the capitol city walls to try and fend off any future attack from the remaining Orks. But Orks can be rather hard to get rid of, and the people of Attraignnor IV had not yet seen the last of the invaders.
Showing posts with label Attraignnor IV campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Attraignnor IV campaign. Show all posts
Friday, October 9, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Attraignnor IV Campaign: Conclusion
Even as Laotzu's lightning field faded away, Aun Chie's final breath left his mangled form. The Tau's blood flowed from his carcass connecting the trails of gore of the other eight dead air caste crew. If someone were to enter the bridge at that moment to bear witness to this devastation, that soul would perhaps notice that, by simple chance or ungodly design, the trails of gore seemed to form a huge purple star of eight points. Of course, no such soul existed to bear such witness.
The Tau Courier class transport reached the ethereal's drifting Manta. Its mighty Gravitic beam pulled the wounded ship into one of the transport's enormous cargo bays. Inside, the Courier's full complement of fire caste security personnel trained their weapons on the crippled ship as the small team of earth caste explorators moved forth towards the hatch.
Quickly, too quickly to react, the inky black unlight speared from the Manta's bridge. The eight vile spears lanced out, all in their path consumed utterly. The Manta exploded and the new energy added light to the unlight. The Courier began to buckle under the onslaught, the transport's hull not meant to experience such internal paradox. As the surviving security personnel began to run, the wet canvas of reality ripped and foul daemons swarmed forth to consume the crew's very souls.
The Courier eventually succumbed to the horrendous attack. A single violent explosion engulfed the gargantuan freighter, and a new eight pointed star filled the heavens of Attraignnor IV. The small, localized warp storm created, chance or design, by the Champion Sun Laotzu's violent massacre of eight innocent Tau and their spiritual leader would remain manifest for almost 700 years.
The Tau invaders were gone from Attraignnor IV. Those who had not fled the capitol city and escaped back to their ships had been wiped out. There were still some small, insignificant pockets of resistance left in the city. Humans loyal to the Tau, not realizing their saviors had abandoned them. Imperial Guard of the 122nd Cadian still holed up in their headquarters. Arbites defending the well-fortified precinct house. With the aliens gone, the fight had become between the Imperial loyalists and the rebel separatists. Most citizens simply did not care, and just wished for the destructive war to be over. But many were enthralled by the charismatic Captain Ferranus, who still had a strong desire to exact revenge on the Imperial loyalists. And that time would come, for they could not hope to endure long isolated as they were in their bases in the city.
But for now, the citizens of the capitol city were happy to celebrate the defeat of the Tau. The vile aliens were gone, and though the fighting was not yet over there was reason to rejoice. But as the citizens were celebrating, renegade space marines were combing the city for the true prize. While Lord Agramon recovered from his most recent set of severe injuries sustained while charging ahead of his army, Warlord Captain Adriel organized the sweep of the city to hunt for Planetary Governor Devonius Krell, and any surviving members of his heretical government. They had turned a perfectly simple rebellion into a ferocious three-way war by dealing with the wretched Tau, and they would be made to pay for their crimes.
Aside from the loyalist Imperial strongholds, where Devonius Krell would obviously not be welcomed, all major bunkers and strongholds in the city had been cleared or destroyed, but the remnants of the government has still not been located. As the search went on, Captain Adriel began to think that perhaps somehow the governor and his men had managed to slip past the guards and get out of the city into the countryside, or even managed to get past them to meet up with the Tau and be evacuated from the planet as they retreated. If so, locating the man would now be impossible. But their defensive net, which had completely isolated the Tau during the entire war, seemed to have been sound, and Adriel could not believe that the governor and his entourage could have slipped by it.
His instincts were proven right. As more of the citizens of Attraignnor IV came to accept the governance of Captain Octavio Ferranus, and see the Chaos Marines as their saviors from a war inflicted upon them by Governor Krell, information from the human populace began to pour in. Intelligence from many tips indicated that Krell and many of his advisers were still within the city, hiding their identities and constantly moving from place to place, relying on friends and supporters to shelter and hide them for a few days at a time. As the public became more supportive, more and more information was coming in, and many citizens were turning in their neighbors as being possible supporters or sympathizers of the former government.
The homes and businesses of these suspected sympathizers were constantly being raided and searched, and one by one the leaders of the former government were found and captured. Finally, in another of many raids like any other, former governor Krell himself was captured, hiding in a refrigeration unit in a dingy basement. Having finished their task, the space marines of the Crusaders chapter turned over the imprisoned heads of the former government to the new self-proclaimed ruler of the planet, Captain Ferranus, to punish as he saw fit. The chapter then prepared to depart Attraignnor IV, having accomplished their mission, freeing the world from both alien subjugation and Imperial tyranny in one brief war. The destiny of Attraignnor IV was now in the hands of the people of Attraignnor IV.
Without so much as a challenge, the Black Knight guards stood down before the High King and Ruler of All Attraignnor, Lord Captain Octavio Ferranus, Grand Master of the Fists of Ferranus. The High King stepped past the guards without so much as a glance.
The awesome form of the Lord Agramon filled the room. Even badly wounded, the Master of the renegade space marine chapter was an impressive sight. The localized warp storm, however, had greatly accelerated Agramon's recovery. Upon sight of the High King, Lord Agramon's sorcerous medicae attendants left the room.
Words were spoken in that room between the two great leaders. Pacts were discussed, alliances formed. When Ferranus departed, the wretched form of the ex-Lord Governor was in tow.
The renegade space marine chapter departed with great fanfare. A feast was held, and another city-wide carnival. Joy seemed to pervade across the face of the planet. The few major pockets of resistance were besieged and de-clawed, or infiltrated and destroyed. The ex-Imperial Fists, as well as the multiple free marine warbands that had fallen under the mighty High King Ferranus' sway was more than enough to handle the petty malcontents. Ferranus' newly founded Attraignnor Guard was free to form the Honor Guard for their great allies' departure.
The High King's Council of Six all appeared to bless the chapter’s great crusade. Cardinal Degrassio anointed the mighty Lord Agramon's dropship with blessed Kroot oil, whilst the Ancient Master Zalel led the massive cannon salute. Epistolary Botrejadre preyed for favorable warp currants, whilst TechObliterator Greavous and Shas'O Vor Suelo gifted their allies with some of the finest munitions and priceless pieces of salvaged tech. To all, the people cheered, and, as a great finale, with the setting of the sun, as the last rays stole away its radiant glow, Champion Laotzu smote the massive Aquila statue of the Palace with a single, mighty blow of Foe Bane. Cracks raced up the 400 foot tall golden eagle, and when Lord Agramon's great dropship roared, so the great effigy crumbled to dust.
Cardinal Degrassio licked his lips and shivered with excitement in his sacristy before stepping out to give mass. The soft moan barely reached the Cardinal's increasingly sensitive ears. Pinned, literally, to the sacristy's heavily frescoed ceiling, severed into exactly 36 flayed, deboned, yet still exquisitely living pieces, was ex-governor Devonius Krell, penanced eternally to the most loving devotions of Slaanesh. Degrassio sighed lustfully before stepping out to the masses.
In the war room of the palace of High King Ferranus met the Council of Six. The advisors stood around their liege. Ferranus stepped to the holographic table in the center and flipped a switch. An image of the Forgeworld Attraignnor Epsilon flickered to life. "My friends,... my brothers,... my mighty Fists,... the future."
The Tau Courier class transport reached the ethereal's drifting Manta. Its mighty Gravitic beam pulled the wounded ship into one of the transport's enormous cargo bays. Inside, the Courier's full complement of fire caste security personnel trained their weapons on the crippled ship as the small team of earth caste explorators moved forth towards the hatch.
Quickly, too quickly to react, the inky black unlight speared from the Manta's bridge. The eight vile spears lanced out, all in their path consumed utterly. The Manta exploded and the new energy added light to the unlight. The Courier began to buckle under the onslaught, the transport's hull not meant to experience such internal paradox. As the surviving security personnel began to run, the wet canvas of reality ripped and foul daemons swarmed forth to consume the crew's very souls.
The Courier eventually succumbed to the horrendous attack. A single violent explosion engulfed the gargantuan freighter, and a new eight pointed star filled the heavens of Attraignnor IV. The small, localized warp storm created, chance or design, by the Champion Sun Laotzu's violent massacre of eight innocent Tau and their spiritual leader would remain manifest for almost 700 years.
The Tau invaders were gone from Attraignnor IV. Those who had not fled the capitol city and escaped back to their ships had been wiped out. There were still some small, insignificant pockets of resistance left in the city. Humans loyal to the Tau, not realizing their saviors had abandoned them. Imperial Guard of the 122nd Cadian still holed up in their headquarters. Arbites defending the well-fortified precinct house. With the aliens gone, the fight had become between the Imperial loyalists and the rebel separatists. Most citizens simply did not care, and just wished for the destructive war to be over. But many were enthralled by the charismatic Captain Ferranus, who still had a strong desire to exact revenge on the Imperial loyalists. And that time would come, for they could not hope to endure long isolated as they were in their bases in the city.
But for now, the citizens of the capitol city were happy to celebrate the defeat of the Tau. The vile aliens were gone, and though the fighting was not yet over there was reason to rejoice. But as the citizens were celebrating, renegade space marines were combing the city for the true prize. While Lord Agramon recovered from his most recent set of severe injuries sustained while charging ahead of his army, Warlord Captain Adriel organized the sweep of the city to hunt for Planetary Governor Devonius Krell, and any surviving members of his heretical government. They had turned a perfectly simple rebellion into a ferocious three-way war by dealing with the wretched Tau, and they would be made to pay for their crimes.
Aside from the loyalist Imperial strongholds, where Devonius Krell would obviously not be welcomed, all major bunkers and strongholds in the city had been cleared or destroyed, but the remnants of the government has still not been located. As the search went on, Captain Adriel began to think that perhaps somehow the governor and his men had managed to slip past the guards and get out of the city into the countryside, or even managed to get past them to meet up with the Tau and be evacuated from the planet as they retreated. If so, locating the man would now be impossible. But their defensive net, which had completely isolated the Tau during the entire war, seemed to have been sound, and Adriel could not believe that the governor and his entourage could have slipped by it.
His instincts were proven right. As more of the citizens of Attraignnor IV came to accept the governance of Captain Octavio Ferranus, and see the Chaos Marines as their saviors from a war inflicted upon them by Governor Krell, information from the human populace began to pour in. Intelligence from many tips indicated that Krell and many of his advisers were still within the city, hiding their identities and constantly moving from place to place, relying on friends and supporters to shelter and hide them for a few days at a time. As the public became more supportive, more and more information was coming in, and many citizens were turning in their neighbors as being possible supporters or sympathizers of the former government.
The homes and businesses of these suspected sympathizers were constantly being raided and searched, and one by one the leaders of the former government were found and captured. Finally, in another of many raids like any other, former governor Krell himself was captured, hiding in a refrigeration unit in a dingy basement. Having finished their task, the space marines of the Crusaders chapter turned over the imprisoned heads of the former government to the new self-proclaimed ruler of the planet, Captain Ferranus, to punish as he saw fit. The chapter then prepared to depart Attraignnor IV, having accomplished their mission, freeing the world from both alien subjugation and Imperial tyranny in one brief war. The destiny of Attraignnor IV was now in the hands of the people of Attraignnor IV.
Without so much as a challenge, the Black Knight guards stood down before the High King and Ruler of All Attraignnor, Lord Captain Octavio Ferranus, Grand Master of the Fists of Ferranus. The High King stepped past the guards without so much as a glance.
The awesome form of the Lord Agramon filled the room. Even badly wounded, the Master of the renegade space marine chapter was an impressive sight. The localized warp storm, however, had greatly accelerated Agramon's recovery. Upon sight of the High King, Lord Agramon's sorcerous medicae attendants left the room.
Words were spoken in that room between the two great leaders. Pacts were discussed, alliances formed. When Ferranus departed, the wretched form of the ex-Lord Governor was in tow.
The renegade space marine chapter departed with great fanfare. A feast was held, and another city-wide carnival. Joy seemed to pervade across the face of the planet. The few major pockets of resistance were besieged and de-clawed, or infiltrated and destroyed. The ex-Imperial Fists, as well as the multiple free marine warbands that had fallen under the mighty High King Ferranus' sway was more than enough to handle the petty malcontents. Ferranus' newly founded Attraignnor Guard was free to form the Honor Guard for their great allies' departure.
The High King's Council of Six all appeared to bless the chapter’s great crusade. Cardinal Degrassio anointed the mighty Lord Agramon's dropship with blessed Kroot oil, whilst the Ancient Master Zalel led the massive cannon salute. Epistolary Botrejadre preyed for favorable warp currants, whilst TechObliterator Greavous and Shas'O Vor Suelo gifted their allies with some of the finest munitions and priceless pieces of salvaged tech. To all, the people cheered, and, as a great finale, with the setting of the sun, as the last rays stole away its radiant glow, Champion Laotzu smote the massive Aquila statue of the Palace with a single, mighty blow of Foe Bane. Cracks raced up the 400 foot tall golden eagle, and when Lord Agramon's great dropship roared, so the great effigy crumbled to dust.
Cardinal Degrassio licked his lips and shivered with excitement in his sacristy before stepping out to give mass. The soft moan barely reached the Cardinal's increasingly sensitive ears. Pinned, literally, to the sacristy's heavily frescoed ceiling, severed into exactly 36 flayed, deboned, yet still exquisitely living pieces, was ex-governor Devonius Krell, penanced eternally to the most loving devotions of Slaanesh. Degrassio sighed lustfully before stepping out to the masses.
In the war room of the palace of High King Ferranus met the Council of Six. The advisors stood around their liege. Ferranus stepped to the holographic table in the center and flipped a switch. An image of the Forgeworld Attraignnor Epsilon flickered to life. "My friends,... my brothers,... my mighty Fists,... the future."
Monday, March 16, 2009
Attraignnor IV Campaign: The Final Battles
By this point, it was obvious that the Tau has almost no chance of victory, and would not continue to waste Tau lives on a lost cause. Therefore they would attempt to evacuate the planet, taking with them as many of their human supporters as they could. The Tau in the North controlled the Spaceport Complex, and the Tau in the East controled the Railhead Terminus, but the two armies could not reach each other since they were cut off by enemy forces. It made sense for the Northern army to evacuate by transport ship back to their fleet, and the Eastern army to exit the city by train, to be picked up somewhere outside the city where it would be safe for Tau transports to land and pick them up. Then all the Tau would return to their fleet and depart, leaving the planet to its fate.
However, since the forces of Chaos had so clearly dominated the campaign, and because we wanted one final climactic battle for each of us, we would give the Chaos forces a change to prevent the Tau from evacuating the city. The fallen Imperial Fists would fight a battle with the Northern Tau army at the Spaceport Complex. If the Tau won, the remnants of their army could escape back to the fleet. If Chaos won and captured the Spaceport Complex, the Tau would have no way to escape, and would be cut off and wiped out. Similarly, the offworld Chaos Space Marines would battle the Eastern Tau forces at the Railhead Depots. If the Tau won, their forces and their human followers could escape the city. If the Chaos Marines were victorious, they would capture the trains and prevent the Tau from escaping, ensuring their destruction.
The Eastern Front, Railhead Depots
The remaining Tau forces in the Eastern part of the city hastily formed up into a rearguard in the vicinity of the Railhead Depots. They hoped this force could hold off the attacking Chaos Space Marines long enough for the rest of the Tau army, their supplies, and the human Tau sympathizes from the city to be evacuated by train. Moving all of the equipment, support staff, and refugees to the Railhead Terminus and loading them onto the many trains that could take them out of the city would be a long, slow process. But if the rearguard was unable to stall the Chaos attack long enough, the remaining Tau, and their human allies, would be cut off from escape, surrounded, and slaughtered.
Lord Agramon knew by now that the city was clearly theirs, and he sensed, the urgent desperation in the Tau retreat. The enemy had been routed, but Lord Agramon didn’t just want to control the city. He wanted to slaughter every vile xenos creature that had the audacity to set foot on this human world. And even more, he wanted to butcher the wretched human scum from Habs Zeta and Epsilon who were rumored to have betrayed their very humanity by joining the alien invaders.
Lord Agramon himself wanted to lead the final attack personally. He hastily assembled a large attack force in Angel Square. He preceded the attack with a brief orbital bombardment of the Railhead Depots area, which damaged some of the buildings so severely that even entering them could be extremely dangerous, and they could collapse at any moment. Some of the critical Tau units weren’t able to get in good positions to defend against the coming attack as they had to spend time carefully digging themselves out of the damaged buildings, nervous about moving too quickly and risking the collapse of the buildings.
Lord Agramon’s attack came swiftly, with Agramon himself and several units of Berzerkers charging forward with reckless abandon. The Raptor, in particular, seemed almost suicidal as they recklessly flew through dangerous ruins and charged through collapsing buildings. They took several casualties because of their aggressiveness, but their fury paid off as they managed to wipe out some Kroot entrenched in a building and finish off some isolated battle suits. Their advance mad up the right flank, along with the perfectly timed arrival of two small terminator units, helped clear the area of defenders so that the Berzerkers could move in and capture the emptied buildings.
On the left flank, two large units of chaos marines advanced very slowly and carefully, capturing buildings as they went. Before them charged Agramon accompanied by some overzealous Berzerkers. As the Berzerkers charged forward in a frothing fury, their hatred blinded them to the danger of the terrain. As they tried to recklessly charge forward, they continually were tripped up and slowed down by the blasted ruins of the buildings. In pure frustration they tried to bash their way through the broken ruins of another building, only to cause it to completely collapse in on them, burying them in smoke and rubble, and making them easy prey.
Meanwhile Agramon, himself no less overzealous than his men, was not willing to wait for his Berzerkers to flail and stumble their way through the buildings. He glided over the buildings with daemonic power, but also managed to injure himself in the dangerous rubble. Furious, he dropped down right in front of the heavily defended enemy flank and blasted some of his hated foe with deadly warp energy. Unfortunately the return fire from several battlesuits, vespid, and a tank was too much for him to overcome, and Lord Agramon was unable to continue the fight.
Back on the right flank, the berserkers continued their advance. A unit of Tau Fire warriors had moved out from their hiding place into a cramped alley to open fire on one of the small terminators units. Their fire, combine with that of two battlesuit commanders, felled all but one of the terminators. One of the commanders charged in to finish off the lone Terminator, but seeing the powers and toughness of his foe, he instantly regretted his decision and instead fled the battlefield.
Seeing a new enemy before them, the Berzerkers charged into the small, tightly-packed alley to attack the Fire Warriors. Fighting in the narrow, dark alley was difficult and awkward, with blood, chainswords, and limbs flying in every direction. But it was still a massacre for the Berzerkers, who were now, like the alley itself, coated in blood and gore. The lone terminator charged after the remaining battlesuit commander, and crushed the two shield drones defending him. But the commander managed to find a weak point in the nearly indestructible terminator armor as he fired every weapon he had at point blank range. The terminator went down, but as the commander looked back up, he found himself engulfed in the advancing Berzerkers, who dragged him down as he tried to flee for his life.
By this point, leaderless and without hope, the rest of the Tau army was in full retreat. Though Lord Agramon had been badly wounded, and the Terminators and Raptors had suffered significant casualties, it was a resounding victory for the Chaos Marines. With the Tau rearguard smashed aside, the Chaos Marines continued forward into the nearly undefended Railhead Terminus. The remains of the Tau army were in disarray, and were easy prey. They, along with their human refugees, were massacred. Since the Tau in the East were now cut off from the rest of the city, and the Chaos Marines were now in control of their only possible means of escape, the Tau were trapped. The rest of the campaign in the East would just be a matter of the Chaos Marines mopping up the rest of the surrounded and defeated Tau. With free reign of the area, the Chaos Marines could also focus on hunting down the rouge Imperial governor who had caused the entire war by dealing with the Tau in the first place.
The Tau Landing Zone, Attraignnor Space Port
The sun rose behind the once mighty Tau army as they loaded their equipment onto the last of the Orca dropships anxiously waiting to depart. Only two cadres were left to report back. Shas'o Vor Suelo led his forces from the artillery emplacements upon the isle the natives call 'Gibbet Hill', while Shas'O Guela Vostru fought a running battle retreating from the west with the rebellious citizens of the city. The esteemed Aun Chie Zuhis looked upon his disheartened warriors and sighed...
The Western outskirts of the Spaceport
"Here they come!" Mickey readied his autorifle and swung down from his perch on the rubble. Another three of those big tan robot thingys were loping down their street. This was their chance, their real chance! So far, they'd only been able to bring down one of the xenos' robo-frisbees. But the robots! Those were big points! Just one of them'll be enough to get them ALL spots on High King Ferranus' new Attraignor Guard. Bess, Johnson, Franko, Shots, they were all ready. They all know what this meant. Almost silently they crawled through the rubble towards the street...
Vostru signaled a halt to his bodyguard. The foolish humans stood out starkly on the infrared sensors of his suit. It was like this all across the city! Idiot humans attempting ambushes with no concept of training. The low rumble of what had to be a building collapsing somewhere was no distraction as he and his team raised their weapons to fire..
Mickey tripped as the super heated plasma ripped through the walls of the building ruin they had taken cover in. Shots and Bess were immolated in an instant, and Franko's screams filled the air, his legs gone. There was nothing else for it as rage filled his soul, it was kill or be killed. "C'mon, Johnson! Let's go milk us some Xenos!" Johnson paused just long enough to grab Franko's melta before following his boss through the newly made holes in the wall, just in time to see one of the big robo's chest blow outward..
The low rumble was no collapsing building. It was the mighty growl of one of High King Ferranus' last working Imperial Fists Rhino APCs. The Rhino's stormbolter continued to roar death at the two remaining battlesuits. As the remaining tau trained their fire on the transport, the two bruised and dirty humans were all but forgotten in the face of this new threat. The yellow tank crushed forth, fallen fire warriors hanging lifeless from hooks welded to the side. The hatches popped....
Brother Sgt. Smith was first at the hatch as was his custom, and so was the first to glimpse the sickeningly curved xenos tank float blasphemously around the intersection a mere block away. "OUT!!!" he screamed to his men before diving through the hatchway...
There was no noise. The Rhino merely crumpled as if made of paper as the Hammerhead's shot bore into its side armor. Thick black smoke began to seep from the cracks in the destruction that was the Rhino, and the stench of promethium filled the air before the sound caught up with the hyper-velocity round fired from the Hammerhead's massive rail gun...
Brother Sgt. Smith felt the searing heat of his transport's violent explosion buffet his body as he stood back up. A quick check of his auto-senses told him that Squad Smith had taken no casualties, though Brother Howard would need a new arm. Unfortunately, they would have no time to prep the missile launcher with those battlesuits so close. This was going to get dirty fast. Smith knew the next shot would probably be submunitions, just as he knew the foul abomination wouldn't get a third. He raised his fist, the Closed Fist of Ferranus, and the astartes charged...
Mickey and Johnson were thrown roughly to the ground as the massive yellow tank exploded, but the mighty Space Marines were already on their feet charging the alien vehicle. Surely nothing could stop the grand and benevolent High King Ferranus' mighty Angels. Suddenly, to Mickey's utter despair, a shot like a million spears of starlight tore from the alien cannon into the Imperial Fists, shredding even the very ground they ran across....
"A submunitions round! Good show!" thought commander Vostru as he and his last remaining bodyguard backed down the street, distancing themselves from the yellow monsters. A direct hit at that distance would annihilate an entire herd of houladons! He would have to recommend the crew for commendation. An audible crunch and a piercing human cry snapped his attention around...
The blasting shrapnel round created a nice dust screen for their advance, though the hyper-velocity force of hundreds of tiny balls pinging off their armor did slow them down. Brother Wessex went down, a ball finding its way through the hip joint of his armor, shattering the bone inside, and Brother Tse would not rise again after one of the tiny balls found one of his eyes...
"Load another round, Vortis, just in case." "Aye, Shas'El!" Shas'El Cualton turned back to the pict screen just as the dust began to settle, his eyes slowly adjusting to the movement on the flickering screen. Aggravated, Cualton popped the top hatch for a better look at his fallen foes...
The eight marines broke from the dust cloud just as the Hammerhead's commander rose from the hatch. The startled tau barely realized what he was seeing when Brother Sgt. Smith made a great bounding leap onto the hull of the foul xenos battle tank. In an instant his bolt pistol was against the bare head of the tau tank commander. Smith fired, and then adjusted his aim to kill the two aliens left in the vile monstrosity as his troopers primed their krak grenades against the known weak points of the hull. He leapt down just as the hideous heresy to the Omnissiah erupted into a giant ball of cleansing flame..
Shas'O Vostru looked down at the dirty human under his suit's feet as the second shockwave hit him. His weapons were already priming as he turned to face the tenacious threat of the human super soldiers. With the immolating squeal of a fusion rifle what remained of Vostru's last bodyguard fell before him. The tau commander frantically turned to see another dirty human peasant holding one of their kind's 'Mell-Taas', super heated steam pouring from the crude fusion weapon's vents. The Shas'O, knowing he was defeated, engaged his suit's jet pack and took to the skies. Another squeal and his plasma rifle detonated, the force threw him into the wall of the destroyed building next to him. The wall collapsed upon him, and shrapnel speared through his armor and skewered his arm. His suit's emergency systems kicked on, and his body was filled with pain killers and stimulants. The desperate Shas'O blasted himself free of the rubble and soared into the sky...
Johnson lowered the melta just as the pounding boot falls of Ferranus' Fists heralded their arrival. A giant with a red helm put his hand on Johnson's shoulder. "Excellent shot! I shall inform my Lord Captain of your prowess with the Meltagun, Guardsman....." "Um.. Johnson, sir.." Slowly a smile creapt onto Johnson's dirty, scarred face. It was the first in over ten years...
Out of his fugue, Mikey saw a golden hand come out of the increasingly murky haze that was the rest of the world. His arm was a torn mess, attached by mere threads of sinew. "Laying down on the job, Guardsman?" the voice boomed from the ether. The words tumbled from his shivering lips in a flood, "..no ...no.. ..f'course not.. no.. ... .. wait," the words finally hit him, "Guard.. Guardsman? but.. my arm!" "No excuse, trooper. You can always get another arm!" Brother Howard burst into thundering laughter as he helped the wounded man to his feet. Strangely, Mikey found himself laughing, too..
Brother Saotome loaded the krak missile with a soft prayer, raised his weapon, and fired..
The fire warriors defending the makeshift defenses of the spaceport cheered when they saw their great commander, Shas'O Vostru soaring out of the city. The rest of the cadre would be right behind him, and they could finally leave this blighted world behind them. Their moral was finally broken when the missile soared from the city and impacted cleanly with Vostru's battlesuit. The tau looked on in horror as their great commander, their great hero, plummeted, lifeless, to the earth. The tau defense was broken before the score of Alpha Legion bikes roared from the streets, before the crimson assault marines lept from the rooftops, before the hordes of Attraignorian citizens swarmed from the buildings. The tau defense fled. Their escape had become a rout...
The Tau Landing Zone, Attraignor Space Port
Aun Chie Zuhis watched as Shas'O Vor Suelo and a full half of his cadre set up their haphazard defense of the landing zone as the gunshots and explosions signifying the humans' attack drew ever nearer. He had already called down one of the much more survivable Manta class gunships to get himself off-planet safely. For the Greater Good, of course. Suelo was a competent commander, but the ethereal knew the fire caste would not last long after he, himself, had departed. Their moral would break, and they would flee and be cut down. At least half of the cadre would make it to safety... and Aun Chie made quite sure it was the more promising half...
Vor's stealth teams reported that the humans would be within sight in moments. Their clan-destine ambushes had not even slowed the attack. It was as if the humans did not even care about casualties among their citizens!...
Sgt. Smith saw the haze/blur and had barely enough time to toss one of the last of the ganger scum in front of himself before the searing heat of the alien melta squeeled to life. Before the charred human body hit the floor, squad Smith had opened fire on the xenos...
A motley horde of ragtag humans rushed from the cover of the Tau's own fortifications into the massive open plain that was the spaceport. Shas'O Suelo gave the order, and his warriors opened fire, cutting the foolish attackers down by the hundreds. Just as the assault began to falter, a screaming roar filled the air as the human super-soldiers, the first seen this battle, unleashed a massed strike upon growling bikes and screeching jetpacks. Vor Suelo, however, was ready for this. His hammerheads and broadsides were in perfect positions to redeploy and meet this dire threat. Suelo was not ready for the ominous sound of one of the Orca dropships detonating violently behind him...
Aun Chie Zuhis ran as the Manta soared from the heavens. More lightning fields began to crackle around the remaining Orca even as its crew ditched the fuel lines in preparation for an emergency takeoff. The massive human super soldiers' battlesuits that had just teleported in and casually destroyed the first Orca had immediately headed towards the rear of the fire caste's line, ignoring the last Orca. Now Aun Chie knew why. He reached the Manta and vaulted aboard before the ramp had opened fully. Upon reaching the bridge, he ordered the immediate take-off of the ship. The Air Caste crew did not even question his order, knowing that leaving the rest of Shas'O Vor Suelo's cadre behind must be for the Greater Good. As an after thought, Aun Zuhis ordered the ship to fire upon the human battlesuits approaching from the wreckage of the second Orca, the remains of best and brightest from Shas'O Suelo's cadre still smoldering. The Manta easily took what meager firepower the battlesuits could bring to bear. Aun Chie Zuhis sighed in relief as the Manta soared into the heavens...
Shas'O saw his last hope fade with the departing Manta. His cadre was beset from both front and rear, and he now saw the despicable Aun Chie Zuhis for the coward that he was. It was as if a veil was lifted from his eyes. Looking out at what remained of his warriors, he knew they saw the truth as well. At almost the same time, a massive human tank ground to a halt not ten jumps from the Tau Commander. It's golden hull emblazoned with a halo'ed black human fist and crescent moon. The assault ramp yawned wide and a single human stepped forward. He hailed the commander in perfect Tau. He spoke of many things, and Vor Suelo found himself believing this truly honorable warrior before him. The remaining tau, fighting for their lives just a mere instant before, found themselves unopposed as they moved to better hear the words of the two leaders. Shas'O Suelo knew at that moment that he had been fooled. His life had been a lie....
Octavio Ferranus smiled. The little voice of his intuition had been completely right again. The xenos battlesuit before him opened wide and a diminutive alien stepped out and prostrated himself in the most respectful bow of his kind. Seeing the fealty of their leader, the remaining xenos soon fell to their knees before the High King's glance. Just one small step remained...
Low Orbit, Attraignnor IV
The Manta had just gained a visual of their mothership when the shiver went through the ship's controls and displays. The crew looked quizzically at their captain. Kor'O Yissil pointed at the drive master, and he immediately moved towards the exit to investigate the slight disturbance. As soon as he reached the hatchway, the entire hatch exploded in, flattening the poor Kor'Vre. Aun Chie looked on in horror as a truly massive human battlesuit crushed the wall around it as it entered the now claustrophobic bridge, a massive glowing hammer in its fist. To their credit, Yissel and the remaining Kor'Vres drew their miniscule sidearms and opened fire on the monster before them. The beast actually laughed as it swung a battered shield before it, the crackling and sparking forcefield still managing to deflect the paltry resistance. With but two mighty swings of that mighty hammer, Aun Chie's seven remaining protectors were no more. The eight dead tau lay all around him. Before the ethereal could even grasp the idea of running, the monstrous human super soldier was upon him. Aun Chie cried out as he's thrown to the ground, feeling bones shatter with the impact. He lays broken and sobbing, surrounded by the dead. He screams again and again as the beast rips his arms and legs away. The world begins to fade. An unknown substance is injected into his chest, ripping him from the bliss of unconsciousness back to the reality of pain. The esteemed Aun Chie Zuhis' screams grow impossibly louder as his intestines are torn from his destroyed body. The torture finally ends with the removal of his tongue. The gurgling blood quiet his screams. As his vision darkens, the monster swings his hammer again, destroying the control centers of the Manta. He turns again and his cold stare pierces Aun Chie's very soul as the lightning again comes and takes the monster away...
Tau Landing Zone, Attraignnor Space Port
The figure is kneeling before the lightning field of teleportation fades, and High King Octavio Ferranus looks down upon his mighty champion.
"Arise, Laotzu. A success as usual, I assume?"
"'Tis done, My Liege."
Lord Captain Ferranus knew it was so as a new, eight pointed star bloomed in the heavens. A truly cyclopean cheer arose from his people. The celebrations of this great victory would go on for months, of that he would make sure. The people would see that they made the right choice. They would love him. Then the rest of the system would be liberated. Ferranus smiled...
However, since the forces of Chaos had so clearly dominated the campaign, and because we wanted one final climactic battle for each of us, we would give the Chaos forces a change to prevent the Tau from evacuating the city. The fallen Imperial Fists would fight a battle with the Northern Tau army at the Spaceport Complex. If the Tau won, the remnants of their army could escape back to the fleet. If Chaos won and captured the Spaceport Complex, the Tau would have no way to escape, and would be cut off and wiped out. Similarly, the offworld Chaos Space Marines would battle the Eastern Tau forces at the Railhead Depots. If the Tau won, their forces and their human followers could escape the city. If the Chaos Marines were victorious, they would capture the trains and prevent the Tau from escaping, ensuring their destruction.
The remaining Tau forces in the Eastern part of the city hastily formed up into a rearguard in the vicinity of the Railhead Depots. They hoped this force could hold off the attacking Chaos Space Marines long enough for the rest of the Tau army, their supplies, and the human Tau sympathizes from the city to be evacuated by train. Moving all of the equipment, support staff, and refugees to the Railhead Terminus and loading them onto the many trains that could take them out of the city would be a long, slow process. But if the rearguard was unable to stall the Chaos attack long enough, the remaining Tau, and their human allies, would be cut off from escape, surrounded, and slaughtered.
Lord Agramon knew by now that the city was clearly theirs, and he sensed, the urgent desperation in the Tau retreat. The enemy had been routed, but Lord Agramon didn’t just want to control the city. He wanted to slaughter every vile xenos creature that had the audacity to set foot on this human world. And even more, he wanted to butcher the wretched human scum from Habs Zeta and Epsilon who were rumored to have betrayed their very humanity by joining the alien invaders.
Lord Agramon himself wanted to lead the final attack personally. He hastily assembled a large attack force in Angel Square. He preceded the attack with a brief orbital bombardment of the Railhead Depots area, which damaged some of the buildings so severely that even entering them could be extremely dangerous, and they could collapse at any moment. Some of the critical Tau units weren’t able to get in good positions to defend against the coming attack as they had to spend time carefully digging themselves out of the damaged buildings, nervous about moving too quickly and risking the collapse of the buildings.
Lord Agramon’s attack came swiftly, with Agramon himself and several units of Berzerkers charging forward with reckless abandon. The Raptor, in particular, seemed almost suicidal as they recklessly flew through dangerous ruins and charged through collapsing buildings. They took several casualties because of their aggressiveness, but their fury paid off as they managed to wipe out some Kroot entrenched in a building and finish off some isolated battle suits. Their advance mad up the right flank, along with the perfectly timed arrival of two small terminator units, helped clear the area of defenders so that the Berzerkers could move in and capture the emptied buildings.
On the left flank, two large units of chaos marines advanced very slowly and carefully, capturing buildings as they went. Before them charged Agramon accompanied by some overzealous Berzerkers. As the Berzerkers charged forward in a frothing fury, their hatred blinded them to the danger of the terrain. As they tried to recklessly charge forward, they continually were tripped up and slowed down by the blasted ruins of the buildings. In pure frustration they tried to bash their way through the broken ruins of another building, only to cause it to completely collapse in on them, burying them in smoke and rubble, and making them easy prey.
Meanwhile Agramon, himself no less overzealous than his men, was not willing to wait for his Berzerkers to flail and stumble their way through the buildings. He glided over the buildings with daemonic power, but also managed to injure himself in the dangerous rubble. Furious, he dropped down right in front of the heavily defended enemy flank and blasted some of his hated foe with deadly warp energy. Unfortunately the return fire from several battlesuits, vespid, and a tank was too much for him to overcome, and Lord Agramon was unable to continue the fight.
Back on the right flank, the berserkers continued their advance. A unit of Tau Fire warriors had moved out from their hiding place into a cramped alley to open fire on one of the small terminators units. Their fire, combine with that of two battlesuit commanders, felled all but one of the terminators. One of the commanders charged in to finish off the lone Terminator, but seeing the powers and toughness of his foe, he instantly regretted his decision and instead fled the battlefield.
Seeing a new enemy before them, the Berzerkers charged into the small, tightly-packed alley to attack the Fire Warriors. Fighting in the narrow, dark alley was difficult and awkward, with blood, chainswords, and limbs flying in every direction. But it was still a massacre for the Berzerkers, who were now, like the alley itself, coated in blood and gore. The lone terminator charged after the remaining battlesuit commander, and crushed the two shield drones defending him. But the commander managed to find a weak point in the nearly indestructible terminator armor as he fired every weapon he had at point blank range. The terminator went down, but as the commander looked back up, he found himself engulfed in the advancing Berzerkers, who dragged him down as he tried to flee for his life.
By this point, leaderless and without hope, the rest of the Tau army was in full retreat. Though Lord Agramon had been badly wounded, and the Terminators and Raptors had suffered significant casualties, it was a resounding victory for the Chaos Marines. With the Tau rearguard smashed aside, the Chaos Marines continued forward into the nearly undefended Railhead Terminus. The remains of the Tau army were in disarray, and were easy prey. They, along with their human refugees, were massacred. Since the Tau in the East were now cut off from the rest of the city, and the Chaos Marines were now in control of their only possible means of escape, the Tau were trapped. The rest of the campaign in the East would just be a matter of the Chaos Marines mopping up the rest of the surrounded and defeated Tau. With free reign of the area, the Chaos Marines could also focus on hunting down the rouge Imperial governor who had caused the entire war by dealing with the Tau in the first place.
The Tau Landing Zone, Attraignnor Space Port
The sun rose behind the once mighty Tau army as they loaded their equipment onto the last of the Orca dropships anxiously waiting to depart. Only two cadres were left to report back. Shas'o Vor Suelo led his forces from the artillery emplacements upon the isle the natives call 'Gibbet Hill', while Shas'O Guela Vostru fought a running battle retreating from the west with the rebellious citizens of the city. The esteemed Aun Chie Zuhis looked upon his disheartened warriors and sighed...
The Western outskirts of the Spaceport
"Here they come!" Mickey readied his autorifle and swung down from his perch on the rubble. Another three of those big tan robot thingys were loping down their street. This was their chance, their real chance! So far, they'd only been able to bring down one of the xenos' robo-frisbees. But the robots! Those were big points! Just one of them'll be enough to get them ALL spots on High King Ferranus' new Attraignor Guard. Bess, Johnson, Franko, Shots, they were all ready. They all know what this meant. Almost silently they crawled through the rubble towards the street...
Vostru signaled a halt to his bodyguard. The foolish humans stood out starkly on the infrared sensors of his suit. It was like this all across the city! Idiot humans attempting ambushes with no concept of training. The low rumble of what had to be a building collapsing somewhere was no distraction as he and his team raised their weapons to fire..
Mickey tripped as the super heated plasma ripped through the walls of the building ruin they had taken cover in. Shots and Bess were immolated in an instant, and Franko's screams filled the air, his legs gone. There was nothing else for it as rage filled his soul, it was kill or be killed. "C'mon, Johnson! Let's go milk us some Xenos!" Johnson paused just long enough to grab Franko's melta before following his boss through the newly made holes in the wall, just in time to see one of the big robo's chest blow outward..
The low rumble was no collapsing building. It was the mighty growl of one of High King Ferranus' last working Imperial Fists Rhino APCs. The Rhino's stormbolter continued to roar death at the two remaining battlesuits. As the remaining tau trained their fire on the transport, the two bruised and dirty humans were all but forgotten in the face of this new threat. The yellow tank crushed forth, fallen fire warriors hanging lifeless from hooks welded to the side. The hatches popped....
Brother Sgt. Smith was first at the hatch as was his custom, and so was the first to glimpse the sickeningly curved xenos tank float blasphemously around the intersection a mere block away. "OUT!!!" he screamed to his men before diving through the hatchway...
There was no noise. The Rhino merely crumpled as if made of paper as the Hammerhead's shot bore into its side armor. Thick black smoke began to seep from the cracks in the destruction that was the Rhino, and the stench of promethium filled the air before the sound caught up with the hyper-velocity round fired from the Hammerhead's massive rail gun...
Brother Sgt. Smith felt the searing heat of his transport's violent explosion buffet his body as he stood back up. A quick check of his auto-senses told him that Squad Smith had taken no casualties, though Brother Howard would need a new arm. Unfortunately, they would have no time to prep the missile launcher with those battlesuits so close. This was going to get dirty fast. Smith knew the next shot would probably be submunitions, just as he knew the foul abomination wouldn't get a third. He raised his fist, the Closed Fist of Ferranus, and the astartes charged...
Mickey and Johnson were thrown roughly to the ground as the massive yellow tank exploded, but the mighty Space Marines were already on their feet charging the alien vehicle. Surely nothing could stop the grand and benevolent High King Ferranus' mighty Angels. Suddenly, to Mickey's utter despair, a shot like a million spears of starlight tore from the alien cannon into the Imperial Fists, shredding even the very ground they ran across....
"A submunitions round! Good show!" thought commander Vostru as he and his last remaining bodyguard backed down the street, distancing themselves from the yellow monsters. A direct hit at that distance would annihilate an entire herd of houladons! He would have to recommend the crew for commendation. An audible crunch and a piercing human cry snapped his attention around...
The blasting shrapnel round created a nice dust screen for their advance, though the hyper-velocity force of hundreds of tiny balls pinging off their armor did slow them down. Brother Wessex went down, a ball finding its way through the hip joint of his armor, shattering the bone inside, and Brother Tse would not rise again after one of the tiny balls found one of his eyes...
"Load another round, Vortis, just in case." "Aye, Shas'El!" Shas'El Cualton turned back to the pict screen just as the dust began to settle, his eyes slowly adjusting to the movement on the flickering screen. Aggravated, Cualton popped the top hatch for a better look at his fallen foes...
The eight marines broke from the dust cloud just as the Hammerhead's commander rose from the hatch. The startled tau barely realized what he was seeing when Brother Sgt. Smith made a great bounding leap onto the hull of the foul xenos battle tank. In an instant his bolt pistol was against the bare head of the tau tank commander. Smith fired, and then adjusted his aim to kill the two aliens left in the vile monstrosity as his troopers primed their krak grenades against the known weak points of the hull. He leapt down just as the hideous heresy to the Omnissiah erupted into a giant ball of cleansing flame..
Shas'O Vostru looked down at the dirty human under his suit's feet as the second shockwave hit him. His weapons were already priming as he turned to face the tenacious threat of the human super soldiers. With the immolating squeal of a fusion rifle what remained of Vostru's last bodyguard fell before him. The tau commander frantically turned to see another dirty human peasant holding one of their kind's 'Mell-Taas', super heated steam pouring from the crude fusion weapon's vents. The Shas'O, knowing he was defeated, engaged his suit's jet pack and took to the skies. Another squeal and his plasma rifle detonated, the force threw him into the wall of the destroyed building next to him. The wall collapsed upon him, and shrapnel speared through his armor and skewered his arm. His suit's emergency systems kicked on, and his body was filled with pain killers and stimulants. The desperate Shas'O blasted himself free of the rubble and soared into the sky...
Johnson lowered the melta just as the pounding boot falls of Ferranus' Fists heralded their arrival. A giant with a red helm put his hand on Johnson's shoulder. "Excellent shot! I shall inform my Lord Captain of your prowess with the Meltagun, Guardsman....." "Um.. Johnson, sir.." Slowly a smile creapt onto Johnson's dirty, scarred face. It was the first in over ten years...
Out of his fugue, Mikey saw a golden hand come out of the increasingly murky haze that was the rest of the world. His arm was a torn mess, attached by mere threads of sinew. "Laying down on the job, Guardsman?" the voice boomed from the ether. The words tumbled from his shivering lips in a flood, "..no ...no.. ..f'course not.. no.. ... .. wait," the words finally hit him, "Guard.. Guardsman? but.. my arm!" "No excuse, trooper. You can always get another arm!" Brother Howard burst into thundering laughter as he helped the wounded man to his feet. Strangely, Mikey found himself laughing, too..
Brother Saotome loaded the krak missile with a soft prayer, raised his weapon, and fired..
The fire warriors defending the makeshift defenses of the spaceport cheered when they saw their great commander, Shas'O Vostru soaring out of the city. The rest of the cadre would be right behind him, and they could finally leave this blighted world behind them. Their moral was finally broken when the missile soared from the city and impacted cleanly with Vostru's battlesuit. The tau looked on in horror as their great commander, their great hero, plummeted, lifeless, to the earth. The tau defense was broken before the score of Alpha Legion bikes roared from the streets, before the crimson assault marines lept from the rooftops, before the hordes of Attraignorian citizens swarmed from the buildings. The tau defense fled. Their escape had become a rout...
The Tau Landing Zone, Attraignor Space Port
Aun Chie Zuhis watched as Shas'O Vor Suelo and a full half of his cadre set up their haphazard defense of the landing zone as the gunshots and explosions signifying the humans' attack drew ever nearer. He had already called down one of the much more survivable Manta class gunships to get himself off-planet safely. For the Greater Good, of course. Suelo was a competent commander, but the ethereal knew the fire caste would not last long after he, himself, had departed. Their moral would break, and they would flee and be cut down. At least half of the cadre would make it to safety... and Aun Chie made quite sure it was the more promising half...
Vor's stealth teams reported that the humans would be within sight in moments. Their clan-destine ambushes had not even slowed the attack. It was as if the humans did not even care about casualties among their citizens!...
Sgt. Smith saw the haze/blur and had barely enough time to toss one of the last of the ganger scum in front of himself before the searing heat of the alien melta squeeled to life. Before the charred human body hit the floor, squad Smith had opened fire on the xenos...
A motley horde of ragtag humans rushed from the cover of the Tau's own fortifications into the massive open plain that was the spaceport. Shas'O Suelo gave the order, and his warriors opened fire, cutting the foolish attackers down by the hundreds. Just as the assault began to falter, a screaming roar filled the air as the human super-soldiers, the first seen this battle, unleashed a massed strike upon growling bikes and screeching jetpacks. Vor Suelo, however, was ready for this. His hammerheads and broadsides were in perfect positions to redeploy and meet this dire threat. Suelo was not ready for the ominous sound of one of the Orca dropships detonating violently behind him...
Aun Chie Zuhis ran as the Manta soared from the heavens. More lightning fields began to crackle around the remaining Orca even as its crew ditched the fuel lines in preparation for an emergency takeoff. The massive human super soldiers' battlesuits that had just teleported in and casually destroyed the first Orca had immediately headed towards the rear of the fire caste's line, ignoring the last Orca. Now Aun Chie knew why. He reached the Manta and vaulted aboard before the ramp had opened fully. Upon reaching the bridge, he ordered the immediate take-off of the ship. The Air Caste crew did not even question his order, knowing that leaving the rest of Shas'O Vor Suelo's cadre behind must be for the Greater Good. As an after thought, Aun Zuhis ordered the ship to fire upon the human battlesuits approaching from the wreckage of the second Orca, the remains of best and brightest from Shas'O Suelo's cadre still smoldering. The Manta easily took what meager firepower the battlesuits could bring to bear. Aun Chie Zuhis sighed in relief as the Manta soared into the heavens...
Shas'O saw his last hope fade with the departing Manta. His cadre was beset from both front and rear, and he now saw the despicable Aun Chie Zuhis for the coward that he was. It was as if a veil was lifted from his eyes. Looking out at what remained of his warriors, he knew they saw the truth as well. At almost the same time, a massive human tank ground to a halt not ten jumps from the Tau Commander. It's golden hull emblazoned with a halo'ed black human fist and crescent moon. The assault ramp yawned wide and a single human stepped forward. He hailed the commander in perfect Tau. He spoke of many things, and Vor Suelo found himself believing this truly honorable warrior before him. The remaining tau, fighting for their lives just a mere instant before, found themselves unopposed as they moved to better hear the words of the two leaders. Shas'O Suelo knew at that moment that he had been fooled. His life had been a lie....
Octavio Ferranus smiled. The little voice of his intuition had been completely right again. The xenos battlesuit before him opened wide and a diminutive alien stepped out and prostrated himself in the most respectful bow of his kind. Seeing the fealty of their leader, the remaining xenos soon fell to their knees before the High King's glance. Just one small step remained...
Low Orbit, Attraignnor IV
The Manta had just gained a visual of their mothership when the shiver went through the ship's controls and displays. The crew looked quizzically at their captain. Kor'O Yissil pointed at the drive master, and he immediately moved towards the exit to investigate the slight disturbance. As soon as he reached the hatchway, the entire hatch exploded in, flattening the poor Kor'Vre. Aun Chie looked on in horror as a truly massive human battlesuit crushed the wall around it as it entered the now claustrophobic bridge, a massive glowing hammer in its fist. To their credit, Yissel and the remaining Kor'Vres drew their miniscule sidearms and opened fire on the monster before them. The beast actually laughed as it swung a battered shield before it, the crackling and sparking forcefield still managing to deflect the paltry resistance. With but two mighty swings of that mighty hammer, Aun Chie's seven remaining protectors were no more. The eight dead tau lay all around him. Before the ethereal could even grasp the idea of running, the monstrous human super soldier was upon him. Aun Chie cried out as he's thrown to the ground, feeling bones shatter with the impact. He lays broken and sobbing, surrounded by the dead. He screams again and again as the beast rips his arms and legs away. The world begins to fade. An unknown substance is injected into his chest, ripping him from the bliss of unconsciousness back to the reality of pain. The esteemed Aun Chie Zuhis' screams grow impossibly louder as his intestines are torn from his destroyed body. The torture finally ends with the removal of his tongue. The gurgling blood quiet his screams. As his vision darkens, the monster swings his hammer again, destroying the control centers of the Manta. He turns again and his cold stare pierces Aun Chie's very soul as the lightning again comes and takes the monster away...
Tau Landing Zone, Attraignnor Space Port
The figure is kneeling before the lightning field of teleportation fades, and High King Octavio Ferranus looks down upon his mighty champion.
"Arise, Laotzu. A success as usual, I assume?"
"'Tis done, My Liege."
Lord Captain Ferranus knew it was so as a new, eight pointed star bloomed in the heavens. A truly cyclopean cheer arose from his people. The celebrations of this great victory would go on for months, of that he would make sure. The people would see that they made the right choice. They would love him. Then the rest of the system would be liberated. Ferranus smiled...
Monday, March 9, 2009
Attraignnor IV Campaign: Turn 10
Meanwhile the Tau, having suffered setback after setback, had decided that they city was lost to them. With the civilians now banding together to rise up on their own against the alien invaders, the Tau knew that they had no hope of victory. The Tau force in the north began to pull back to the spaceport complex in order to evacuate their troops from the planet and abandon it to chaos. The Tau in the East moved into the Railhead Terminus, brushing aside local resistance. They had convinced many citizens in the hab blocks they controlled to join the greater good of the Tau Empire. But now the Tau had given up fighting for the planet, and began the slow process of trying to evacuate, taking their human supporters with them. With control of the rail system, the Tau were planning to retreat from the city on rail cars, and then have ships land outside the city to evacuate them from the planet.
Victory Points
Chaos: 59.5
Tau: 17
Monday, March 2, 2009
Attraignnor IV Campaign: Turn 9
Word soon came to the populace of the western mercantile district. It was news of hope, of joy. Word soon passed to the impoverished and war beaten citizens of the Merc of the great and benevolent Lord Captain Octavio Ferranus, High King of all Attraignnor.
A once wealthy merchant by the name of Geraldius VanDyre, of House VanDyre, ran like never before attempting to escape the vile drones of their xenos oppressors. Weighed down by the heavy pack of food liberated from the stores these particular drones were guarding, Geraldius knew he wouldn't win this race. He dove around the corner into the next faceless ruin. Up and up, he decided. Halfway up the first flight, the stairs crumbled beneath him, and the youngest son of House VanDyre fell.
The floor beneath the stairs crumbled, as did the floor below that. VanDyre landed hard and had to bite through the flesh of his own hand to stop himself from crying out. Shrapnel had impaled his right leg and he was pretty sure a couple of ribs were broken, but he was alive, and he still had the precious food. Silent and crying, Geraldius lay still where he fell as tiny blinking lights buzzing above him gave away the drones searching the floor he just fell through.
He must have blacked out for a time, for he was awakened by the sun's rays somehow finding their way to his face. He couldn't stop the cry this time as he tried to move. He couldn't stand either. As he looked around for something to brace himself with, he spotted a strange reflection from the corner of his eye. He crawled over painfully and discovered a half buried and forgotten doorway
It was the entrance to a forgotten PDF armory. Racks of rifles lined the walls. Crates of ammunition were stacked in the corner. Explosives, fatigues, body armor, it all stood before him. His prayers had been answered.
It was a miracle, the people thought. This man, their leader, came back, beaten and bloody with not only food, but a miracle. Hidden in the bowels of a Mechanicus warehouse, protected by the Mechanicus guards and techpriests who hadn't sided with the vile aliens, the citizens at last found hope. Scouts and spies were designated. The weapons store was retrieved. A resistance was formed. VanDyre had a massive banner made in the image of Ferranus' own as rumor described it and it hung from the wall of the secret warehouse to bring hope to the lost souls living there.
Reports began coming in that the enemy were withdrawing a significant part of their force from the front, and sightings were reported of a be-robed Tau accompanied by a large cadre of warriors with bright red helms issuing orders to the xenos commanders. Geraldius VanDyke knew the time was now.
As the sun rose, the resistance launched their attack. Geraldius raised the banner high and gave the order to strike.
Unfortunately, the Tau were a skilled military force. The element of surprise was lost as the resistance army moved into position. Without a word of warning or recognition, an impromptu airstrike was called in to give the xenos warriors time to form up. Heavy firepower tore into the resistance lines before the citizens let off a single shot. But the mighty banner waved, and the resistance army held. Firepower far greater than the aliens expected roared from the ruins around them, and a team of battlesuits was tore apart by massive lascannon blasts that came out of nowhere. At almost the same time, the Tau discovered another trick the resistance handed them as one of their mighty Broadsides was obliterated by a hidden booby-trap.
The resistance was made up of untrained citizens, however, and most could not get the knack for the ranged weapons. Though the heavy fire kept the aliens in cover, it was mostly ineffective, and most citizens chose to rush into point blank assaults. The casualties to these men and women of Attraignor IV were horrendous as they attempted to cross the streets, but heroes are born in such times. Mika Grosnikt led his gang, the Warp Angels, into close quarters with a squad of xenos warriors. While Mechanicus Sgt. Sigma6 beat down the warriors, the Warp Angels broke through the line and made a break for the next building. As they jumped out of windows and tore through broken walls to reach the alien sniper team, Grosnikt realized the powerful power sword given to him by the techpriests was lost in the frenzied fighting. Though he was mostly ineffective fighting with only his shotgun, the Warp Angels did him proud, cutting down the xenos machines, and decapitating their controller. Movement in the next building revealed their next target, and Mika led them on to find themselves face to face with the red helmed bodyguards of the alien in robes. Though knowing they were outmatched, the Warp Angels screamed, fired, and charged.
By the end of the engagement, the resistance had taken fully half the sector, and Geraldius VanDyre knew that his people dealt a mighty blow to their alien oppressors. The Tau forces in the sector were knocked off balance, and the long range comms were back up. VanDyre was able to contact the palace and publicly swore fealty to the High King. He gave account of what the resistance accomplished and shared their intelligence. The High King was well pleased, and took special note of the be-robed Tau leader. Geraldius was gifted the rank of Merchant Warden, and his men were commended greatly. All that remained was for Ferranus to garrison the district.
After over ten years, respite was finally within the Merc citizens' reach.
The Tau forces retreating from the Palace grounds that regrouped in the mercantile district met up with their ethereal that came down to the planets surface to witness the destruction and the chaos that has been ensuing, to judge better whether or not this pacification has run its course and the planet was lost to chaos. During the meetings and deliberations the most confusing and unfortunate turn of events happened. The uprising and fanaticism of the ruined cites people and their turn against any hope they had left on their war torn planet. Militias of all kinds poured over the city and headed straight toward their encampment. A defense was set up and the people fell in the streets not stopping to think they just threw themselves at the Tau guns. Men, women and children old or brave enough to hold a weapon fought on pushing past the defenses.
Bold and upset the Tau ethereal stood his ground through multiple bombings and mortar fire just long enough to see the faces of what type of man they were there to save. With a final assault of a wild young bunch the decision was made. With a furrow of the brow and a hiss of disapproval, the ethereal retreated back to his lander and left.
Chaos: 53.5
Tau: 14.5
Monday, February 23, 2009
Attraignnor IV Campaign: Turn 8
The Tau in the north of the city continued their attack on the Palace Grounds from the Mercantile and Pleasure district. Both sides were cautious after the previous losses they had suffered fighting over the palace grounds. Warlord Captain Thamuz, leading the defense of the staging area on the palace grounds, had learned valuable lessons already. Now he was much more effective in dealing with the infiltrating Kroot squads, isolating and destroying them with minor losses.
The Tau broadsides were again effective in damaging and destroying the Chaos tanks, but Captain Thamuz had a plan for them as well. He called down reinforcements, in the form of a squad of Obliterators teleporting down from orbiting ships. They arrived on the battlefield right where they were needed, and were very effective in destroying the Tau broadsides. They even managed to destroy the battlesuit-wearing Tau commander.
As the Chaos forces closed in, the remaining Tau fire warriors made a courageous stand on a hill overlooking the battlefield. A couple of frantically charging chaos warriors managed to reach part way up the hill in their attempt to reach the fire warriors, but were blasted apart by the devastating onslaught of pulse rifle fire. Captain Thamuz pulled the rest of his forces back, allowing the last of the Tau to retreat from the battlefield. Being a cautious commander, Captain Thamuz did not wish to waste any of his men pointlessly capturing the hill when the battle was already won.
During their retreat, the remainder of the Tau force happened upon a scrambled Ork camp, the refuge of some Orks that has survived the invasion and awaited their chance to resume their attack. When the Tau encountered them, they were apparently getting motivated to start a waaagh march towards the areas in the skies that were most colored with the smoke of war. Hearing those giant explosions must have got them riled. But the Tau army already had reinforcements moving up from the Mercantile and Pleasure district to support the attack on the palace grounds.
With the meeting up and support of 2 whole squads of fire warriors, The Orks were mowed down. With the advantage of fighting on these grounds for what seems months, the Tau dug themselves in good picking key locations to whittle the Orks away. That was until a unit of Nobs nearing the Tau line called for a push and got the charge they needed to breech the Tau line. It was a massacre and the 2 new fire warrior teams were cut down. It was up to the last two fire warriors to hold their ground and keep the murderous unit of Nobs at bay while the rest of the Tau army adjusted and repositioned them self for the next wave of fire.
They did just that, not breaking and running they stood up to the nobs, repeatedly smashing their faces with their rifles, they were cut down but got the job done. As this was happening, the forest to the far was literally torn in half by a squad of ten massive Orks in Mega armor. The appearance was enough and after taking a test shot at them with the last surviving Broadside, the decision to avoid them at all costs was made. The Tau were able to position themselves in the right spots of the field to eventually defeat the Ork war party and send them scrambling with very few numbers left.
Elsewhere, the other wing of the Tau army, in the Eastern area of the city, used took advantage of the Tau’s legendary mobility to perform a surprise maneuver. They pulled back from their attack on Angel Square, and were almost immediately able to redeploy a large force for an attack on Building 235, where Chaos Marine forces had set up power generators to power their staging area on the palace grounds.
The rapid redeployment of the Tau forces caught the Chaos Marines off guard. They had only a small contingent of marines stationed around Building 235, since they did not have the numbers to fully defend all of the territory they had managed to capture in the city. The meager forces in the area would not be able to withstand a full scale attack from the Tau, and reinforcements were not able to arrive before the Tau sprung their attack.
Commander Mesme of the Tau managed to redeploy his forces masterfully, and in no time had all but surrounded the Chaos Marine defenders of the area around Building 235. Commander Mesme skillfully used the combined strengths of each of the variety of units he had at his disposal to annihilate a unit of Khorne Berzerkers, including markerlights, seeker missiles, sniper drone fire, and even an ambush by a unit of flying Vespid, culminating in a surprise assault to finish off the last berserker at point blank range.
Another unit of Chaos Marines was cut down by a massive horde of Kroot, and things were not looking well for the defenders. But reinforcements were on their way. Responding to a call for support from the beleaguered defenders, a squad of Raptors first swooped down to do some reconnaissance for the rest of the forthcoming reinforcements. Unfortunately, the landing in the building they were aiming for proved trickier than expected, and two were taken out of the fight immediately, badly injured while trying to amongst the jutting steel and shifting rubble of the building.
The rest of the squad then immediately came under a hail of fire, and took cover in the rubble around them. They would be little help to the rest of the reinforcements, and their mission to relay vital information about the situation on the battlefield could only be considered a complete failure.
So the terminator units aboard Lord Agramon’s flagship would be forced to teleport into the middle of a battle blind, with little information about the layout or situation. But their defense forces could not hold much longer and were completely boxed in and unable to inflict any casualties on the enemy Tau. It was a risk that Warlord Captain Adriel and his terminators would have to take.
Three squads of terminators teleported down to the battlefield, but only two arrived. The third had been teleported way off course in a crucial miscalculation. But such were the risks of trying to teleport into the middle of a battlefield without proper reconnaissance being done.
The two squads of Chaos Terminators, one led by Captain Adriel himself, appeared suddenly right in the midst of the Tau army, and wasted no time in causing havoc in the Tau line. A heavy flamer laid waste to two units of the vile xenos, while Lord Adriel personally slaughtered his way through several more units with his howling daemon weapon.
The Tau were clearly disrupted by the sudden onslaught in a battle that only moments before looked completely in their grasp. The remainder of the Tau force fled from the rampaging terminators, and scattered through the surrounding buildings. The reinforcements had been enough to turn the tide, but only just. The Tau were forced to fall back in order to regroup, but they had managed to kill or wound all of the Chaos Marines stationed in the area to defend building 235. The area around the building was no longer completely under their control, nor had the Tau managed to capture it outright. Captain Adriel and his terminators would return to the orbiting flagship, forced by other pressing matters to leave the area contested.
If the Tau had succeeded in their pincer attack on the Chaos Marine forces, they might have been able to punch through and connect both wings of their army. But the Chaos marine line managed to hold, and keep the Tau forces from joining together. The desperate Tau plan to turn the war around had been a complete failure.
Chaos: 48.5
Tau: 14
Monday, February 16, 2009
Attraignnor IV Campaign: Turn 7
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.
Chaos: 46.5
Tau: 14
Monday, February 9, 2009
Attraignnor IV Campaign: Turn 6
The Tau launched a sneak attack deep into the daemons' lines, squads of Kroot and stealth teams nearly getting completely past the alpha legion's patrols in the area. The alarm was quickly raised by Veteran Sgt. Drazziel, a hardened veteran of Caliban, who was able to sound the alarm before coming under fire by the alien army. Because of Sgt Drazziel's quick action, Squad Satchiel of the Ravenwing was able to hold the eastern flank. The Alpha legion patrol unit Argos and the detachment of Silver Skull Havocs pressed the advantage on the western flank whilst under heavy fire. Patrol unit Octavio fared much worse. Their Rhino was tore to pieces even as they learned of the alien presence and as the vile Tau commander and bodyguard of dreaded Crisis Battlesuits fell from the sky, it looked as if the center would fall.
His squad destroyed, Veteran Sgt. Drazziel raced to the breaking center, cutting through the aliens heretical machinery, as the chime upon his back began to sing. The sing became a droning wail just as the mighty warrior came in sight of the alien commander, and eight enormous bodies suddenly appeared behind him. He dove to the floor, firing at the aliens just as a storm of bolter fire roared past into the alien leader's bodyguard. Alpha Legion Terminator Squad Drachus had arrived.
On the eastern flank, the Ravenwing had single handedly run through a hoard of Kroot and rushed the Broadside Battlesuits deep behind Tau lines, but at a heavy cost. Sgt. Satchiel was finally knocked from his steed by the energy pulse of a shield drone. The brave Ravenwing Sgt had held long enough, however, and his last sights before losing consciousness were of his Master, Ancient Zalel, soaring in from the south and the esteemed Cyclonius Du Mer hurtling down from the heavens.
The Tau commander, seeing his forces overrun made ready his retreat, but not before the fallen Squad Octavio's Sgt. Romethius unleashed his final trick, surrendering his very soul to the Keeper of Secrets, N'Kari, who quickly pursued the alien leader.
At the last moment, Ancient Zalel initiated the final facet of his plans. With the Terminators to the west, and Zalel himself to the east, it was easy for him to implant the idea that the north was the only road open into the Kroot shaper's brain. He watched in fiendish delight as the mighty Cyclonius was overrun by a massive wave of aliens and banished to the warp. His hold on the forces of the palace grounds was cemented.
Meanwhile, having linked up at the Palace Grounds with the forces of renegade Space Marine Captain Octavio Ferranus, formerly of the Imperial Fists, the forces of the Crusaders renegade Space Marine chapter began spreading out to capture important areas of the city. A large force of them moved south into Angel Square, led personally by the warp-infused monstrosity, Lord Agramon.
The Tau in the East had also moved into Angel Square, led by the young and inexperienced Commander M'yen. Forward elements of the Crusaders advanced force encountered a contingent of the Tau right around the massive building that served as a base for the majestic angel statue. At first the Tau brought a lot of firepower to bear on the small force of renegade marines that were the first to arrive. But due to their ability to coordinate supplies, resources, and tactical information with their allies led by Captain Ferranus, Lord Agramon managed to stage a perfectly timed counter-attack.
Lord Agramon himself arrived with substantial reinforcements at the critical moment to swing the balance of the fighting around the statue building. Having never faced forces of chaos before, Commander M'yen was caught unprepared for the shocking ferocity of the sudden attack.
The timing of the counter-attack was almost disrupted by some overzealous followers of Khorne, who in their eagerness to get to combat drove their rhino full speed and arrived at the building ahead of the other counter-attacking units. But even this turned out to benefit the renegade marines. As the rhino flew forward recklessly and wildly towards the center of the Tau advance, it drew fire from every Tau in the vicinity. Firing the smoke grenades and driving forward insanely into the hail of fire, the rhino managed to take an unbelievable amount of punishment before finally being destroyed by a Tau seeker missile.
But the Rhino had managed to draw fire from the bulk of the Tau army, allowing the beleaguered chaos marines huddling in the ruined buildings a chance to regroup without being fired on. Also, though the Khorne marines were flung from the smoking wreckage of the rhino right into the middle of the Tau advance, they were quickly rescued. A squad of terminators waiting in orbit above managed to lock onto the signal from the squad and teleport right into the midst of the Tau, where they could do the most damage. At the exact same time, Lord Agramon arrived with the rest of the reinforcements in the same area.
The Tau were overwhelmed with the shock of the massive firepower coming from all the reinforcements as well as from the other squads that had managed to move into better firing positions with the break in incoming fire. Most of the center of their battle line broke and ran, and the battle was lost. The Tau commander, with the little forces he had remaining, tried to hold his ground and fight back against the sudden chaos surge, but Lord Agramon personally put an end to that, badly damaging the Tau commander's battlesuit and leaving him badly injured. The Tau commander did manage to escape in a transport vehicle, but the renegade Marines were left solidly in control of Angel Square.
Chaos: 32.5
Tau: 14
Monday, February 2, 2009
Attraignnor IV Campaign: Turns 1-5
Below is the campaign map with the initial positions of the armies marked. Click on it for a larger view.
And here is a summary of the first five turns of movement, with the maps below. So far, it looks like one leg of the Tau army staged an attack on the main gates of Attraignnor IV's capitol city, only to arrive and find the gates destroyed and unguarded, as the city was already in the middle of a civil war. They crossed the bridge into the city, capturing the fortified defenses just inside the walls, and advanced through some civilian areas.
The other leg of the Tau force inserted into a small forgotten corner in the northwest of the city. They quickly secured the Imperial Senate House, but it has long since been abandoned and is no longer any sort of seat of power for the Attraignnor IV government. They continued on to capture the massive Spaceport Complex in order to aid in landing further Tau reinforcements, and set up a very strong defensive position on Gibbet Hill, overlooking the river and a great deal of the city.
Meanwhile, a renegade space marine chapter from off-world descended on the city, dropping off troops in the residential areas in the northeast of the city and making their way to the southwest. Former Imperial Fist Captain Ferranus and his forces broke through into the capitol city from the Western suburbs. They had been contacted by the off-world marines, who do not reveal the name of their chapter but are secretly known as the Crusaders. Both groups of renegades made their way towards the large expanses of the palace grounds, where they met up to organize and coordinate their attacks.
With the two chaos forces now linked up at the palace grounds, the Tau army in the North of the city, though well-entrenched, is completely cut off from the Tau army to the East.
The Tau in the north, realizing they are cut off by the large chaos force assembled on the palace grounds, have decided to consolidate their position. Meanwhile, the combined chaos forces are spreading out to capture key strategic targets within the city.
Victory Points
Chaos: 3
Tau: 2
Victory Points
Chaos: 4.5
Tau: 2.5
Victory Points
Chaos: 10.5
Tau: 8.5
Victory Points
Chaos: 16.5
Tau: 11.5
Victory Points
Chaos: 24.5
Tau: 14
The other leg of the Tau force inserted into a small forgotten corner in the northwest of the city. They quickly secured the Imperial Senate House, but it has long since been abandoned and is no longer any sort of seat of power for the Attraignnor IV government. They continued on to capture the massive Spaceport Complex in order to aid in landing further Tau reinforcements, and set up a very strong defensive position on Gibbet Hill, overlooking the river and a great deal of the city.
Meanwhile, a renegade space marine chapter from off-world descended on the city, dropping off troops in the residential areas in the northeast of the city and making their way to the southwest. Former Imperial Fist Captain Ferranus and his forces broke through into the capitol city from the Western suburbs. They had been contacted by the off-world marines, who do not reveal the name of their chapter but are secretly known as the Crusaders. Both groups of renegades made their way towards the large expanses of the palace grounds, where they met up to organize and coordinate their attacks.
With the two chaos forces now linked up at the palace grounds, the Tau army in the North of the city, though well-entrenched, is completely cut off from the Tau army to the East.
The Tau in the north, realizing they are cut off by the large chaos force assembled on the palace grounds, have decided to consolidate their position. Meanwhile, the combined chaos forces are spreading out to capture key strategic targets within the city.
Chaos: 3
Tau: 2
Chaos: 4.5
Tau: 2.5
Chaos: 10.5
Tau: 8.5
Chaos: 16.5
Tau: 11.5
Chaos: 24.5
Tau: 14
Monday, January 26, 2009
Attraignnor IV Campaign: Background
The battle takes place on Attraignnor IV, an Imperial world out on the very fringes of Imperial space, near the Tau Empire. So far, the Tau have mostly left it alone. But being on the very frontier of Imperial territory, Attraignnor IV isn't particularly well protected or patrolled by Imperial forces, and it pretty much has to fend for itself. The planet has so far done pretty well for itself, with very little help from the Imperium.
Originally Attraignnor IV was colonized just for the sake of expansion, even though it didn't seem to be a particularly valuable planet in any way. But the people of Attraignnor IV were extremely successful at mining pockets of gas located deep within the planet. The gas is greatly valued for its use as fuel in a variety of vehicles, and inhabitants of Attraignnor IV made a lot of money exporting it. This naturally pleased the Imperium, which proceeded to tax them very heavily on their profits.
Resentment began to brew all over the planet because they had to pay so much of their hard earned money in taxes to the Imperium and get basically nothing in return. Gas mining is a very dangerous and risky enterprise, and colonizing a world in the first place is extremely difficult for the early settlers. So they felt as all their risk and hard work was being punished rather than rewarded by the Imperium that basically left them to fend for themselves.
The breaking point came when a particularly large and powerful Ork Waaargh, led by Warboss Gruka Spinetearer, attacked Attraignnor IV. The defenses were overwhelmed and the planet was quickly infested with rampaging Ork warbands. Planetary Governor Devonius Krell had sent out calls for assistance to the Imperial Navy, the Imperial Guard, and the Space Marines. The sub-sector's Naval and Imperial Guard forces did not want to provoke an attack from the nearby Tau Empire, especially with their limited forces so far from the core worlds of the Imperium. So the Navy and the Imperial Guard both replied that all of their forces were tied up and they had nothing available to send to help defend the planet.
The Space Marines of the Imperial Fists did respond, and sent a few squads led by Lord Captain Octavio Ferranus, Commander of the Fourth Company, Master of the Marches. When they arrived they did their best to strike at the most powerful of the rampaging warbands in the more vital areas of the planet. But Captain Ferranus realized how ridiculous the situation was. The planet was hopelessly under supported. It had no outside support. Most of the troops it had raised had been called away by the Imperial guard, leaving them with a token defense force. The few ships in the system fleet had been easily chased away by the large Ork fleet. The situation seemed hopeless.
Being far from the prying eyes of the Inquisition, Attraignnor IV had a relatively large number of chaos cultists who secretly prayed to the gods of chaos for all kinds of things. Now, in these desperate times, much more of the population were convinced by these cultists to turn to the chaos gods for salvation. Arch Heretic Fellonius Degrassio, Demagogue of the Cult of 36 Secrets, managed to gain a particularly massive following amongst the populace.
These citizens formed huge cultist militias to fight back against the Ork invaders. They fought with incredible zeal and determination, some even seeming to fight with superhuman powers granted by their gods. It was even rumored that some of the largest cults had succeeded in enacting dark rituals to summon forth daemons from the warp to attack the Orks.
The Imperial Fists Captain began hearing rumors of the militias, and how they may be connected to cults that might be connected to chaos worship. But as the tide began to turn against the Orks due to the ferocity of the cult militias, Captain Ferranus accepted this as necessary and allowable in order to achieve the greater good. He even began working with some of the more influential militia leaders, including Fellonius Degrassio, in order to coordinate attacks against the Orks.
By this point, Captain Ferranus had grown increasingly frustrated with the situation, as the casualties amongst his men continued to increase. Every day he would request aid: more marines, naval support, the Imperial Guard. He explained that the number of invaders was greater than anticipated, and the situation was hopeless unless someone came to their aid. But none would come. He grew angry at the inability of the Imperium to act. His anger even extended to his own Chapter, the Imperial Fists, who had left him to die in a pointless and impossible fight. As the war raged on, Captain Ferranus grew more and more determined to destroy the alien invaders, no matter the cost, just to spite those who had abandoned Attraignnor IV to its fate.
Then things suddenly took a turn. The Ork fleet that had been chasing the planet's small fleet of ships was engaged and scattered by a large Tau armada. The Tau, however, did not attack the planetary fleet or the planet itself, and simply left the system. With the Ork fleet gone, the system fleet was able to support the ground battles with naval bombardments and bomber attacks. Together, the planetary defense forces, the cult militias, and the remaining Imperial Fists managed to fight back and eventually destroy the remnants of the Ork warbands that had landed on their world. The war was over, but at great cost. Much of the planet was devastated, including the source of their trade income, and it would take years, possibly decades, for it to recover. Most of their mining facilities were destroyed, and in their place stood massive columns of fire from the burning gasses shooting up through the ground.
Then finally, once the war with the Orks was already well in hand, a small Imperial naval fleet arrived at the planet. Naturally, Governor Krell thought, it was just like the navy to show up with reinforcements once they were no longer needed. But when some of them came down to the planet, the governor was told that they weren't reinforcements. They were with the Imperial government, and there to collect the planetary tithes.
Devonius Krell was enraged. After being told there was not a single ship available to help save his planet, and being left on their own to fight against hopeless odds by the Imperium, a fleet had shown up to make sure they paid their taxes to the institution that had abandoned them. He was especially furious that they would show up now, when their planet was devastated and their financial situation at its most dire. He had had enough. His planet clearly had no need for the Imperium of Man, and they had proven it by surviving the crisis without help. The rebellion that had been building for years and years was now coming to a head.
In a fury, the governor had the tithe collectors arrested. He had his planetary defense guns and his fleet attack and destroy the unsuspecting Imperial fleet. There was no going back now. They were in open rebellion. Perhaps this would finally draw the attention of the Imperial military.
Shortly thereafter, as fate would have it, an emissary arrived from the Tau empire, trusting that the destruction of the Ork fleet was a suitable show of peaceful intent. The Governor needed to find a way to survive the retaliation that would surely come from the Imperium, and the Tau had already aided his planet more than the Imperium of Man ever had. So the Governor struck a deal, agreeing that his planet would join the Tau Empire and fall under their protection.
The population of the planet was already well aware of the rebellion of their world. After what they had been through, there were relatively few on the planet that still wished to remain loyal to the Imperium, but hearing the news that they were to join the Tau Empire split the population in two. Some knew that it meant the military protection they needed, and were so glad to be rid of the oppressive Imperial rule that they were ready to accept the ideals of the alien Tau.
But many others would never accept such a fate. They had just given everything they had and more in a desperate fight to stop an alien menace from conquering their world. There was no way they were going to turn around now and just hand the world over to a different alien menace without a fight. Especially those who had turned to the ruinous powers to aid them in the victory, and who wanted their world to be devoted to the praise of the chaos gods.
The entire planet erupted into a fierce civil war. On one side: those who supported the decision to join the Tau empire, loyal to Planetary Governor Devonius Krell. On the other: those who were against, some because they simply despised all xenos, some because they disagreed with the ideals of the Tau Empire, and some because they had seen the power of the chaos gods and wanted to devote the planet to their masters. These included large forces of cultist militias, many of them now lead by Arch Heretic Fellonius Degrassio, Demagogue of the Cult of 36 Secrets.
Captain Ferranus of the Iron Fists had been trained all his life to hate all xenos and all that they stand for. He had also been trained to hate Chaos, but by this point his exposure to it during the war against the Orks had affected him. He chose what he thought to be the lesser of two evils, and fought with the rebels against those loyal to the Planetary Governor. Soon, drawn to the planet by the whispers of the dark gods, small bands of Chaos Space Marines began arriving on the planet to join the fight. Many of them eventually banded together under the brilliant leadership of the Imperial Fists Captain.
Also, a renegade marine chapter with a large spy network was told of the rebellion of this world. In it's desire to aid any world rebelling against the Imperium, the chapter sent a contingent to the planet to aid in the fight, not knowing it had turned into a brutal civil war. War continued to ravage Attraignnor IV, with the capitol city being mostly destroyed by the constant bombardment. The remnants of the Planetary Government, including Planetary Governor Devonius Krell, are now hiding in bunkers deep beneath the capitol city while the war rages above them.
There are also in some places, including the capitol city, small pockets of men still loyal to the Imperium itself, caught between two warring armies of traitors and just trying to hold out and survive. This includes Chief Justice Frenauld Grennior of the Adeptus Arbites, who, with a small force of Adeptus Arbites, is holding out in the Arbites precint house in the capitol city. There are also some Imperial Guard troops still loyal to the Imperium left in the capitol city. Led by Lt Sgt Bartlmus Ortega, they are doing all they can just to defend their HQ from being taken by the various traitors. There are even rumors of a couple of Imperial Assassins operating somewhere in the capitol city, doing anything they can to punish the traitors.
It is at this time that a Tau army arrives on the planet. Not wanting to lose the planet they had been promised, the Tau send an army in to secure the capitol city of the planet and defend Governor Krell, with whom they made their deal. Little do they know that as they arrive, the forces of the unknown renegade marine chapter and the warband of the Imperial Fists captain are also converging on the capitol city to find and eliminate the last remnants of the loyalist government.
Fallen Imperial Fists:
With the Imperial Fists Commander came his command squad including an Epistolary Librarian named Santiago Botrejadre, as well as Chaplain Heinz Wartsmicht, three tactical squads, 2 assault squads, and one devastator squad. His force was further supported by Techmarine Ollivander Smythton who ministered rites to the force's 3 predators, bikes, 5 rhinos, and 3 land speeders. The brutal battles with the vile Orks and the subsequent civil war has reduced and scattered the Imperial Fists' forces and squads have been forced to form from the mixed survivors. Chaplain Wartshmicht was killed in single combat with the Vile Ork warboss before the xenos scum were driven back in the battle of Parisiana by the quick actions of Company Champion Sun Laotzu. The fall of Chaplain Wartshmicht was the beginning of the end for the warriors of the Fourth. Without his spiritual guidance, Captain Ferranus was easily frustrated by the next two years of battle against the Orks. He began to be swayed by the Chaos cults he was forced to use as foot troops, and so when he declared his secession from the Imperium of man, the fourth went with him to a man. Epistolary Botrejadre had already been pushing his powers well beyond anything he'd ever done attacking the vile Ork wyrdboys. He began experimenting and getting more and more reckless in his rites of purity in the name of survival. At the battle of Lamedon, Company Champion Laotzu toppled the massive warboss Grugnir SpineEater, the Ork's great champion, with one great swing of his mighty hammer, Foe Bane. This was the turning point in the battle. In honor of his great valor, Captain Ferranous had the Chaplain's revered suit of Terminator armor cleaned out and gifted it to Laotzu. During the civil war, after nearly all the Fourth's war machines were damaged beyond even Brother Smythton's prodigious skill to repair, the Techmarine along with Apothecary Renauld and six other Battle Brothers, simply disappeared. What became of them remains a mystery.
Originally Attraignnor IV was colonized just for the sake of expansion, even though it didn't seem to be a particularly valuable planet in any way. But the people of Attraignnor IV were extremely successful at mining pockets of gas located deep within the planet. The gas is greatly valued for its use as fuel in a variety of vehicles, and inhabitants of Attraignnor IV made a lot of money exporting it. This naturally pleased the Imperium, which proceeded to tax them very heavily on their profits.
Resentment began to brew all over the planet because they had to pay so much of their hard earned money in taxes to the Imperium and get basically nothing in return. Gas mining is a very dangerous and risky enterprise, and colonizing a world in the first place is extremely difficult for the early settlers. So they felt as all their risk and hard work was being punished rather than rewarded by the Imperium that basically left them to fend for themselves.
The breaking point came when a particularly large and powerful Ork Waaargh, led by Warboss Gruka Spinetearer, attacked Attraignnor IV. The defenses were overwhelmed and the planet was quickly infested with rampaging Ork warbands. Planetary Governor Devonius Krell had sent out calls for assistance to the Imperial Navy, the Imperial Guard, and the Space Marines. The sub-sector's Naval and Imperial Guard forces did not want to provoke an attack from the nearby Tau Empire, especially with their limited forces so far from the core worlds of the Imperium. So the Navy and the Imperial Guard both replied that all of their forces were tied up and they had nothing available to send to help defend the planet.
The Space Marines of the Imperial Fists did respond, and sent a few squads led by Lord Captain Octavio Ferranus, Commander of the Fourth Company, Master of the Marches. When they arrived they did their best to strike at the most powerful of the rampaging warbands in the more vital areas of the planet. But Captain Ferranus realized how ridiculous the situation was. The planet was hopelessly under supported. It had no outside support. Most of the troops it had raised had been called away by the Imperial guard, leaving them with a token defense force. The few ships in the system fleet had been easily chased away by the large Ork fleet. The situation seemed hopeless.
Being far from the prying eyes of the Inquisition, Attraignnor IV had a relatively large number of chaos cultists who secretly prayed to the gods of chaos for all kinds of things. Now, in these desperate times, much more of the population were convinced by these cultists to turn to the chaos gods for salvation. Arch Heretic Fellonius Degrassio, Demagogue of the Cult of 36 Secrets, managed to gain a particularly massive following amongst the populace.
These citizens formed huge cultist militias to fight back against the Ork invaders. They fought with incredible zeal and determination, some even seeming to fight with superhuman powers granted by their gods. It was even rumored that some of the largest cults had succeeded in enacting dark rituals to summon forth daemons from the warp to attack the Orks.
The Imperial Fists Captain began hearing rumors of the militias, and how they may be connected to cults that might be connected to chaos worship. But as the tide began to turn against the Orks due to the ferocity of the cult militias, Captain Ferranus accepted this as necessary and allowable in order to achieve the greater good. He even began working with some of the more influential militia leaders, including Fellonius Degrassio, in order to coordinate attacks against the Orks.
By this point, Captain Ferranus had grown increasingly frustrated with the situation, as the casualties amongst his men continued to increase. Every day he would request aid: more marines, naval support, the Imperial Guard. He explained that the number of invaders was greater than anticipated, and the situation was hopeless unless someone came to their aid. But none would come. He grew angry at the inability of the Imperium to act. His anger even extended to his own Chapter, the Imperial Fists, who had left him to die in a pointless and impossible fight. As the war raged on, Captain Ferranus grew more and more determined to destroy the alien invaders, no matter the cost, just to spite those who had abandoned Attraignnor IV to its fate.
Then things suddenly took a turn. The Ork fleet that had been chasing the planet's small fleet of ships was engaged and scattered by a large Tau armada. The Tau, however, did not attack the planetary fleet or the planet itself, and simply left the system. With the Ork fleet gone, the system fleet was able to support the ground battles with naval bombardments and bomber attacks. Together, the planetary defense forces, the cult militias, and the remaining Imperial Fists managed to fight back and eventually destroy the remnants of the Ork warbands that had landed on their world. The war was over, but at great cost. Much of the planet was devastated, including the source of their trade income, and it would take years, possibly decades, for it to recover. Most of their mining facilities were destroyed, and in their place stood massive columns of fire from the burning gasses shooting up through the ground.
Then finally, once the war with the Orks was already well in hand, a small Imperial naval fleet arrived at the planet. Naturally, Governor Krell thought, it was just like the navy to show up with reinforcements once they were no longer needed. But when some of them came down to the planet, the governor was told that they weren't reinforcements. They were with the Imperial government, and there to collect the planetary tithes.
Devonius Krell was enraged. After being told there was not a single ship available to help save his planet, and being left on their own to fight against hopeless odds by the Imperium, a fleet had shown up to make sure they paid their taxes to the institution that had abandoned them. He was especially furious that they would show up now, when their planet was devastated and their financial situation at its most dire. He had had enough. His planet clearly had no need for the Imperium of Man, and they had proven it by surviving the crisis without help. The rebellion that had been building for years and years was now coming to a head.
In a fury, the governor had the tithe collectors arrested. He had his planetary defense guns and his fleet attack and destroy the unsuspecting Imperial fleet. There was no going back now. They were in open rebellion. Perhaps this would finally draw the attention of the Imperial military.
Shortly thereafter, as fate would have it, an emissary arrived from the Tau empire, trusting that the destruction of the Ork fleet was a suitable show of peaceful intent. The Governor needed to find a way to survive the retaliation that would surely come from the Imperium, and the Tau had already aided his planet more than the Imperium of Man ever had. So the Governor struck a deal, agreeing that his planet would join the Tau Empire and fall under their protection.
The population of the planet was already well aware of the rebellion of their world. After what they had been through, there were relatively few on the planet that still wished to remain loyal to the Imperium, but hearing the news that they were to join the Tau Empire split the population in two. Some knew that it meant the military protection they needed, and were so glad to be rid of the oppressive Imperial rule that they were ready to accept the ideals of the alien Tau.
But many others would never accept such a fate. They had just given everything they had and more in a desperate fight to stop an alien menace from conquering their world. There was no way they were going to turn around now and just hand the world over to a different alien menace without a fight. Especially those who had turned to the ruinous powers to aid them in the victory, and who wanted their world to be devoted to the praise of the chaos gods.
The entire planet erupted into a fierce civil war. On one side: those who supported the decision to join the Tau empire, loyal to Planetary Governor Devonius Krell. On the other: those who were against, some because they simply despised all xenos, some because they disagreed with the ideals of the Tau Empire, and some because they had seen the power of the chaos gods and wanted to devote the planet to their masters. These included large forces of cultist militias, many of them now lead by Arch Heretic Fellonius Degrassio, Demagogue of the Cult of 36 Secrets.
Captain Ferranus of the Iron Fists had been trained all his life to hate all xenos and all that they stand for. He had also been trained to hate Chaos, but by this point his exposure to it during the war against the Orks had affected him. He chose what he thought to be the lesser of two evils, and fought with the rebels against those loyal to the Planetary Governor. Soon, drawn to the planet by the whispers of the dark gods, small bands of Chaos Space Marines began arriving on the planet to join the fight. Many of them eventually banded together under the brilliant leadership of the Imperial Fists Captain.
Also, a renegade marine chapter with a large spy network was told of the rebellion of this world. In it's desire to aid any world rebelling against the Imperium, the chapter sent a contingent to the planet to aid in the fight, not knowing it had turned into a brutal civil war. War continued to ravage Attraignnor IV, with the capitol city being mostly destroyed by the constant bombardment. The remnants of the Planetary Government, including Planetary Governor Devonius Krell, are now hiding in bunkers deep beneath the capitol city while the war rages above them.
There are also in some places, including the capitol city, small pockets of men still loyal to the Imperium itself, caught between two warring armies of traitors and just trying to hold out and survive. This includes Chief Justice Frenauld Grennior of the Adeptus Arbites, who, with a small force of Adeptus Arbites, is holding out in the Arbites precint house in the capitol city. There are also some Imperial Guard troops still loyal to the Imperium left in the capitol city. Led by Lt Sgt Bartlmus Ortega, they are doing all they can just to defend their HQ from being taken by the various traitors. There are even rumors of a couple of Imperial Assassins operating somewhere in the capitol city, doing anything they can to punish the traitors.
It is at this time that a Tau army arrives on the planet. Not wanting to lose the planet they had been promised, the Tau send an army in to secure the capitol city of the planet and defend Governor Krell, with whom they made their deal. Little do they know that as they arrive, the forces of the unknown renegade marine chapter and the warband of the Imperial Fists captain are also converging on the capitol city to find and eliminate the last remnants of the loyalist government.
Fallen Imperial Fists:
With the Imperial Fists Commander came his command squad including an Epistolary Librarian named Santiago Botrejadre, as well as Chaplain Heinz Wartsmicht, three tactical squads, 2 assault squads, and one devastator squad. His force was further supported by Techmarine Ollivander Smythton who ministered rites to the force's 3 predators, bikes, 5 rhinos, and 3 land speeders. The brutal battles with the vile Orks and the subsequent civil war has reduced and scattered the Imperial Fists' forces and squads have been forced to form from the mixed survivors. Chaplain Wartshmicht was killed in single combat with the Vile Ork warboss before the xenos scum were driven back in the battle of Parisiana by the quick actions of Company Champion Sun Laotzu. The fall of Chaplain Wartshmicht was the beginning of the end for the warriors of the Fourth. Without his spiritual guidance, Captain Ferranus was easily frustrated by the next two years of battle against the Orks. He began to be swayed by the Chaos cults he was forced to use as foot troops, and so when he declared his secession from the Imperium of man, the fourth went with him to a man. Epistolary Botrejadre had already been pushing his powers well beyond anything he'd ever done attacking the vile Ork wyrdboys. He began experimenting and getting more and more reckless in his rites of purity in the name of survival. At the battle of Lamedon, Company Champion Laotzu toppled the massive warboss Grugnir SpineEater, the Ork's great champion, with one great swing of his mighty hammer, Foe Bane. This was the turning point in the battle. In honor of his great valor, Captain Ferranous had the Chaplain's revered suit of Terminator armor cleaned out and gifted it to Laotzu. During the civil war, after nearly all the Fourth's war machines were damaged beyond even Brother Smythton's prodigious skill to repair, the Techmarine along with Apothecary Renauld and six other Battle Brothers, simply disappeared. What became of them remains a mystery.
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