Battle 10: the Atonement of Angels

- Location: the desert city of Tartarus, Cerberus XIII.
- Imperial Forces: Dark Angels, 3:rd company
- Chaos Forces: Chaos, the Unhallowed 11:th
- Points value: 900 points on each side 

[Author: Jocke B]

Defeat. The green tide had swallowed Company Master Demetrious´s force. Now it was time for retreat and regrouping back at loyalist lines, eagerly followed and harried by ork forces. The wounded Demtrious was evacuated by the only thunderhawk that had managed to brave the fighters and anti aircraft guns of the traitor forces. The same thunderhawk also disgorged squad Anderfeld and Interrogator Chaplain Isiah Wrath who took command of the breakout, since only the wounded could ride out in the ship.

A group of the scattered Dark Angels, which made up the reconnoiter force that had departed the base some days before, gathered under the Interrogator´s command and formed the spearhead of the remaining forces. Those able to fight formed new squads and were placed on the flanks to cover the breakout. The surviving dreadnought Brother Anvilus and the predator tank Ignis Lux were put in the front of the force.

As the force began its move, all was calm, the gunfire from the greenskins slowly faded, artillery fire from the other fronts was barely registered. Several kilometers were traversed before something bothered the keen senses of the vanguard. Something was very wrong.
Then it came into sight. The sickly green rhino of a traitor legion and other signs of the ruinous powers: gibbering demons, a small group of traitor terminators and a group bristling with heavy weapons hiding in a high building.

Interrogator Wrath ordered the attack. They were too close to the loyalist lines to turn back and take another route, besides, the old chaplain recognized their foe: the Unhallowed 11th. Sons of Horus himself. There were no options.
Combat squads of marines took positions among the ruined buildings on both sides of the road while their brethren rode the rhinos in advance.

Fire erupted between the two forces and the chaos troops moved shouting praises to their fell gods, as the Dark Angels advanced in grim silence, letting their guns sing the praises of the Emperor.
Fierce fighting took place between traitor and loyalist among the ruins of Tartarus and many fell. Dark powers of the warp concealed a great beast of lava and metal as it appeard and tore Ignis Lux into a wreck but was then destroyed by Brother Anvilus in turn. Chaos legionnaries mowed down silent Angels with fire, bolts and boobytraps but was avenged by Isiah Wrath and Codicier Percival. The horde of pink and purple The horde of pink and purple demons was held at bay by squad Anderfeld as well as Anvilus.
The climax of the battle came when the Lord of the Sons became visible outside the ruin where Wrath and Percival was regrouping, the floors and halls full of dead from both sides. Losing no time, the two charged out to face the Lord and his terminator henchman, to finally break the chaos warband.

With a storm of blows from his devastating mace, Interrogator Wrath laid low both opponents in a matter of seconds. Shrieks came from the pack of demons as they was torn back to the warp and the surviving few of the traitors faded back into the ruined landscape. The path to Emperor hallowed ground lay clear!

Dark Angel victory 16-5

Battle 9: The Long War rages on

New battle fought on the Eastern Fringe, new post on Uppsala Grimdark. The Wordbearers prescensce on Cerberus XIII is holding, despite several Imperial armies trying to force a decisive battle. Will a scouting force of the Dark Angels 4:th manage to corner the traitorous legionnaires?

 - Location: the desert city of Tartarus, Cerberus XIII.
- Imperial Forces: Dark Angels 4:th company
- Chaos Forces: The Wordbearers
- Points value: 600 points on each side

[Author: Jon]

With a cut of his force-blade Marchosias cleaved the Dark Angel from his bike, only to be shot by the loyalist's comrade. He felt his armor fracture, and bright pain shot from his shoulder.

Around him the remainder of his squad had fallen, and only one of the False God's slaves remained. But he knew that there were more of them near, a speeder and a walker, at least. It was high time to retreat, so he spun a lie of warp threads and sent it towards his foe, making him see Marchosias' death. Only, later, there would be no corpse.

He stumbled away from the battle site, hidden from the minds of his pursuers. It would not be a pretty report to give to his Lord. Initially, all had went well. He had shredded the minds of their first attackers, a whole squad reduced to mindless husks with his power, and the leader of the Dark Angels, a chaplain of the Corpse God, had likewise fallen. Then, the fates had turned against them.

Their mortal allies had not fared well against the mechanized units opposing them. The Speeder had mowed them down, and a unit of scouts had killed them from afar. Marchosias had called to acolyte Agares and his unit for help, but they had been too far away to matter for the battle. Wisely they had deemed the situation lost, and retreated.

Of acolyte Marax' unit, that on this occasion had been his personal retinue, none followed him now. He hoped that some of them managed to escape in the inevitable confusion after a battle. For their allies he had little hope, and to be truthful he no longer thought of them. Their souls had gone to the warp, little sparks in a sea of souls.

Their task was done with their time in this world. His task was still ahead of him. The Long War would rage a long time still.

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Additional images courtesy of the Dark Angels memorial archive. Unauthorized viewing considered Heresy.

Battle 8: Connection Lost

Still on vacation battling mosquitoes instead of the opressive Imperium, so no retouched images.

The Dark Angels are on Cerberus XIII battling Chaos that has fallen back into the deep culverts below Tartarus. They are recently being hard pressed by the greenskins, which have launched attacks from several Rust Ships. But before the greenskin attack, the Dark Angels ran into another enigmatic enemy.


- Location: the desert city of Tartarus, Cerberus XIII.
- Imperial Forces: Dark Angels
- Chaos Forces: Harlequins
- Points value: 600 points on each side 

[Author: Jocke B]

Dark Angels vs. Harlequins 600pts Connection Lost
Brother captain Demetrious stepped out of his command rhino onto the silent, eerie streets of Tartarus. Something was wrong. All comms had stopped working just a minute before and showed no sign of returning to working order. With hand signals he despatched battlesquads Ashkalon and Galdor into the buildings on either side of the street while he slowly advanced with squads Absalom and Lasius on foot, rhinos following close behind.

Ancient brother Hulud moved off to the right, heading for a relay, hoping to reestablish commuications with base.
"Movement ahead, brother captain" his echoing voice boomed from a vox on his sarcofagus. Demitrious took position at a corner and surveyed the area ahead. Movement alright. Colourful holofields, smoke and the occasional shadow. With surprise the captain whispered in the group channel "Harlequins ahead, hundred meters and closing, take firing positions sectors beta and delta".

His troops moved as one in facing the threat, taking what cover was to be found behind rhinos and rubble, squad Absalom unwittingly moved into a minefield placed around a fusebox shooting sparks.
A pair of jetbikes zoomed into view, their cannons opening up on brother Hulud who staggered from repeated hits from emp charged ammunition. Demetrious gave the order and no fewer than twenty weapons opened fire on the jetbikes in response. Squad Absalom´s plasmagunner suffered a misfire and fell screaming but the jetbikes spiraled out of control, spilling mortally wounded harlequins and fire as they blew up. A sinister shape in a window from across the street opened fire on squad Ashkalon, killing a marine with his huge shuriken cannon. Squad Ashkelon, however, stood fast under the stern gaze of their captain.

What followed was a running firefight between a recently popped up vyper jetbike, brother Hulud, the deathjester and the combat squads of marines. That is, until a troupe of harlequins jumped out of a ruined window to pounce and dance in among squad Absolom and slaying them to a man. Counterfire detroyed the troupe, leaving only a slightly stunned lord of the eldar performers to the tender mercies of captain Demetrious, who slew him with his chainsword.
At this moment a horned harlequin appeared out of nowhere close to ancient brother Hulud and in a flurry of blows and thrusts, laid the reamins of the old marine open to the air of Tartarus. Hulud roared a final time in his impotent rage and went offline.

Demetrious shook the blood off his blade and looked around

with cold determination. He saw a harlequin with a mirrored face - a blank mask that reflected nothing. At that instant the captain felt his mind invaded by slivers of glass and mirrors but he shook his heaad, clearing it, and swore over the witch. His fast movements took him straight to the psyker and slew it.
Shaking the blood from the chainswordblade again he slowly turned to the sound of battle slackening as squad Lasius fire stopped. As he turned around to see what was amiss, he felt a stinging pain in his abdomen and he looked down to see a blade protruding from his sternum. The biodata in his helmet declared that one of his hearts was pierced, together with a lung and several other organs. Demetrious blacked out.

As Demetrious came to, what must have been hours later, a tech adept was kneeling before him.One of the drivers of the rhinos. From what the marine had to tell him, it showed that he battle was pretty much over by the time Demtrious was struck down by the horned harlequin. Of the imperials, only the rhinos remained on the battlefield, gathering the wounded and the slain. They had seen two harleqins,one was the horned one and the other wore a grinning skull mask. They had let the imperials regroup and gather for a retreat. Why? Demetrious could not say, it was typical of the eldar, mysterious and sanctimonious. First cutting the communications, ambushing the dark angels and then just leaving without a reason. They can impossibly win a war, Demetrious thought. Next time...

Battle result: 10-9 for the harlequins

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Additional images courtesy of the ECBE (Esteemed Conclave for Battle Evaluation), Astra Militarum. 

Battle 7: Chaos Purge on standby - Green intermission.

The Green Tide has overrun the forge world Incatalion and are now striking deep within the sector, ravaging the Chaos-purge on Cerberus XIII.

No retouched images today, sorry for that. I have a vacation and is sitting in a cabin in the middle of the woods while my gaming buddies are playing games at our local shop. They seem to play a game every frickin’ day, while I am stuck drinking beer in hammocks, visit country garage sales and take lakeside swims with the kids. Lucky bastards.

- Location: the desert city of Tartarus, Cerberus XIII.
- Imperial Forces: Dark Angels.
- Invasion forces: Orcs
- Point value: 900 pts
- Result: Orc/Dark Angels 14/4

[Author: Joakim B]

In the dark before the dawn they came. The orks the Blood Angels had warned about. But now on Cerberus, in Tartarus itself. Master Demetrious had gathered what he could of his company and rushed toward the ork landing site but he was too late - the orks had infiltrated the city in great numbers. His actual mission was to find a way into the undercity of Tartarus but he could not ignore the ork presence.
Well placed marines traded fire with ork boyz and artillery but few casualties were inflicted.
The ork advance continued unimpeded until light, when Dark Angel armour and assault squads punished the careless ork vehicles that had advanced ahead of the horde. The smoke stung in the eyes of the boyz who only became hungrier for the fight ahead, the light of bloodlust shining in their beady eyes.

Master Demetrious held a calming eye on his marines as they desperately tried to thin the mobs before them before the inevitable assault.
Then the cry went out: WAAAAAAAGH!! And the orks poured in, through vicious fire and scalding promethium, into arms reach of the outnumbered marines. Slaughter followed when the bestial xenos tore down the stalwart marines with unbridled savagery and sheer weight of numbers. Only Demetrious remained on his feet after the first onslaught when Brother Balduin roared into the combat, his vox screaming out hymns to the God Emperor as he slew half a dozen orks in a few seconds.

To no avail. Demetrious was torn down and struck down by a huge brute with a power klaw and an even bigger brute smashed the weapon from the mount of brother Balduin right arm and then the lid of his most sacred sarcophagus.

In other places the battle still hung in the balance. Ork bikes had been twice repelled; many boyz cut down and several kans and buggies stood burning on the field. Assault squad Athelstane was rampaging through vehicles and a building shielding ork troops when they found the entrance to the undercity. The gretchins had been sitting on it all the while but not realizing what they protected.

Athelstane screamed out his despair and frustration when the order came to retreat. All imperial armour on site had been destroyed and Master Demetrious shattered body had just been recovered by the beleaguered squad Enshkal. Numerically the marines had not lost too many but the situation was unsustainable, the orks were just too numerous.

The Dark Angel foray into Tartarus had not had an auspicious beginning but Interrogator Chaplain Isiah Wrath had his hopes up. Now they knew two of their many enemies on Cerberus and they would not fall so easily next time.

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Additional images found in an ork "Peepa-Shoota" forgotten on the battlefield.
Courtesy the ECBE (Esteemed Conclave for Battle Evaluation), Astra Militarum.

Battle 5 & 6: Incaladion - The fury of the Green Tide

This post  represents two games fought on the Forge World Incaladion. No retouched images today, sorry for that. I have a vacation and is sitting in a cabin in the middle of the woods while my gaming buddies are playing games at our local shop.

- Location: the Forge World of Incaladion
- Imperial Forces: Blood Angels.
- Invasion forces: Orcs, Traitor marines from the Word Bearer Legion.
- Point value:
- Result: Orc/Chaos win 15/13

[Author: Rasmus]

Incoming transmission++
Recipient: Classified
Sender: Blood Angel's Fleet Command
Threat level high,
Xenos invasion force detected,
Target: Forge World Incaladion,
Type: Lesser Waagh + sightings of traitor legions
Requesting assistance immediately

Incoming transmission++
Negative - All current forces engaged,
Attack and secure victory if possible,
Secure intel on traitor forces,
-Pedro out-

Incoming transmission++
Heavy losses sustained,
Suspected "Waagh!" in Ultima Segmentum,
This might just be the beginning...



Rust-ships lit the night sky as they burned through the forge world’s atmosphere like comets. Artillery barrages and volleys of rockets thundered in the distance. Mindboggling traktor beams lifted loads of scrap metal into orbit, hauled into containment fields within the interstellar space hulk Ol’ Rusty-guts -the iron belly of the ork fleet. The plunder of Incaladion had begun, fuelling the Waaagh war machine.

”That there, be da spoils of war lads”, said Warboss Rompgogg. “That there be killy kans, dreads and ‘nauts by the thousands, and all kind o’ warwaggons for da blitz. And ya all know what that means?”

The boys of Da Scrappin’ Ninth warband all fell silent. Warboss Rompgogg had da finkin’ kap on and a gift for kunning plans.

“No more foot slogging ya dimwits!”

The ground shook when another rust-ship touched down and unloaded its boys a few klicks to the south.

“Now ten-hut ya maggots! Or do ya want them late-coming scumbags over at Da Deff Jocks Twelfth to hog all the glory?”

 
The mob quickly squabbled itself into something resembling a square formation. Not the spit ‘n’ polish detail of the stormboys, but close enough. They’ve been at it all night. The fighting inside the vast fortified city had bogged down into a grinding battle against predator tanks and pesky bolter marines in razorbacks (battle 1, orks vs. blood angels – 10/10 draw).

Now, in the last moments before dawn, warboss Rompgogg advanced his warband into the vast mining fields outside the city. Seeking out the enemy, securing ground and searching for hidden forge fanes located beneath the planets crust.

“What about them other humies?” asked Nob Brokk and pointed his power klaw at the chaos marines with their retinue of fallen guardsmen.

“What about them? Allies of cunvenience. Nuthing more. Now can I be in charge here for a while or do I need to explain da chain of command fing again?”

“Sur, no, sur!” Nob Brokk made a quick salute. Left handed, accidentally smashing the power klaw to his face. “Turd, not again.“

“Boss!” shouted a sluggaboy. “We got incoming!”

A blood angel stormraven came in fast and low. Strafing through the orks, hammering them with a hail of bullets.

“Dokk! Get them patched up and ready to rumble! Da rest of ya, on me! WAAAAGH!” Warboss Rompgogg grinned as he led the charge. The stormraven had come in too fast, too low or simply too cocky and unloaded a terminator squad too close. Among them a librarian – the commander of the quick response force thundering down all around them.

“Stoopid move, human. Fear the fury of the green tide!”