Battle Standings:
Outcome: Minor Victory
Harakoni Victory Points: 1102 VP
Death Guard Victory Points: 642 VP
Acting Beyond the Call of Duty: Lighting Attack Fighter 'Ignatius' (Landraider/2 Termies/2 Rhinos KIA)
Best Painted/Converted Model:
Harakoni - Commissar Tichondrius (Almost only one painted at this point!)
Death Guard - Great Unclean One (Although he didn't appear for the match!)
Prologue:
(Written by Campaign manager Christopher O. Sørlie, and translated/corrected by the Moderator):
Icarus looked out of the Valkyrie Drop Ship. In two minutes he might not be alive! The Imperium had sent him here, to this asteroid, to annihilate an enemy, and he was ready to die to reach that goal. Around him sat his own hand-picked men, and advisors, and besides them flew ships with talon upon talon of his squads. The bravest and mightiest warriors Harakon had ever nurtured. His mission was simple. Stop the Heretic Gorangaal! A strikeforce from the Agrippa sector was at this minute en route to stop the treacherous Iron Warriors in ‘The Core’ and Icarus knew well that if he couldn’t stop Gorangaal’s Death Guard from reaching and reinforcing the Iron Warriors, they might as well have stabbed their battle-brothers from Agrippa in their backs…
It could not be! One of Icarus finest recruits ever was at this moment trapped in ‘The Core’, and the last message from Terra indicated that Forgan Anargoth may yet be alive, and Icarus looked with longing forwards to the day when he would clasp hands with his former soldier once more, and pin the Honorifica Mortis for outstanding service to the Imperium and the Emperor of Mankind upon his chest.
He clenched his fist, straightened his helmet and turned towards his men; He looked around, first quietly, before opening his mouth, shouting at them over the rumble of the engines, his vox transferring it to the other ships, screaming what they wanted and needed to hear… “Phoenixes of Harakon, hear me! For each traitor skull taken today by your labours, to save our friend, I will personally donate a bottle of Amasec for our victory feast back at the Wyrm’s Nest! The cheering was deafening, even above the engines, and as the ship dove towards the surface, the doors glided up and the soldiers rised. A roar of approval could be heard as they massed out, imitated by the other Valkyries. This was to be a victory long remembered. This victory was theirs, and it was for Forgan…
Note: Forgan Anargoth was a character played by the moderator during the RPG up before the campaign started, and was when the game was started imprisoned by Fabius Bile (Iron Warrior sympathizer in the campaign) under ‘The Core’
Note: For the campaign this counted as a minor defeat, because of the fact that the bunker stood on the end of the mission, despite the fact that the fluff said that I should stop him from reinforcing the Iron Warriors instead of destroying the bunker and I decimated his forces nearly two to one (points wise) and would have annihilated him completely with two more turns, and that I actually had models closer to the bunker, so I was actually more in control of it that my opponent. Even if he controlled it as long as it was whole, I still bested him with almost a third of his victory points. But then again that’s what I get for not reading the whole text, no matter how stupid I thought it was…. Bah! According to the Battle Report section over what constitutes a victory and a defeat though, it was a victory…
Battle-Story:
As he rushed towards the ground on his glider-wings, Ood Icarus looked at the slate with the readout once more as he swooped through the sky-cover….
The target was an underground complex which intelligence had placed as the Death Guard strongpoint on this dustball of an asteroid… He drew a deep breath through his rebreather. The thin atmosphere had made the Valkyries burn much more fuel than normal and appear sluggish enough to sicken the strongest man, but now he was free from the cramped hold with the stench of burned oil, and free to occupy his minds with other things than queasiness.
The target was an innocent looking bunker, but underneath it the Deathguard had allegedly weapons and a disease-spreading storage with warriors, and it was these warriors that needed to be taken out before they could reinforce the Iron Warriors further to the North… “All channels!” His earpiece blipped at his command… “The phoenix will set up on the north side and attack in pattern Delta-Tango-Four.” Icarus’ trained eyes and bionics had already taken in the scene still thousands of feet below him, and calculated what must be done…
He saw two Rhinos revving to go and a Landraider being loaded, as well as two Rhinos some distance off, probably on their way back from a recon mission… The right flank was covered with ‘trees’ clinging to a dusty hill, and a small dune was on the west side as possible cover… Around the north there were several rocky formations for cover, and ideal for their purpose… “Wyrms behind the outcrops, with Mayhem as firebase to their right, Doomdivers approach from around the forest and Purgatos towards the woody ridge with thermal imaging through the trees and altitude on its side. Inferno, Havoc and Pyre, take down that Landraider and whatever is within it after we land… We need to stop them before they can break out and join their traitor allies further south.…” Icarus voice was laden with experience and command, yet also with an urgency his men had learned to understand and respect, and short versions of ‘affirmative’ was quickly broadcast to his com-bead… He was concerned, and to his men the message had been clear: “This would not be easy!”
The men rained from the sky in this sandy and dark dusk, which could have been beautiful with the two suns setting and longs shadows had it not been a battlefield. With practiced precision the squads of Mayhem and Wyrm landed, uncocking their wings and rebreathers, checking their ammo in one fluid motion, before crouching for better cover amongst the stones…. Icarus saw the Sentinel landing where it was supposed to and the Doomdivers circling just out of sight of the enemy guns, behind the ‘woods’ (although he felt strange about calling such a cluster of fungal growth for a forest!) The Commissar Tichondrius landed with but a slight bend in the knees, grace had come back to the stiff and clumsy limbs which had been sent to watch over them what seemed like an eon ago…
Icarus took in the last messages, looking with dread on the forces before him, while his Commissar laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder… “For the Emperor and all mankind, my friend!” Icarus nodded and the honoured guardsman Decimus, with his thundering voice, took the cue waving his standard! “For Harakon, and the Emperor!” He bellowed out into the whirling sand and all around him fire opened on the dim outlines of traitor tanks.
A Rhino was the most conspicuous shielded from the sand by the immense Landraider behind it, it was an easy target, and Icarus roared “Bolters! Rhino! 2 o’clock! Fire!” The Heavy Bolters under his command and those of the Mayhem squad switched targets and let loose with their full amount of armour-piercing bolts into the disease encrusted transport, wriggling daemonic tentacles spasmed as their corporal form were destroyed in a hellfire of magnitude, and the commissar looked upon the ordeal with a nod of satisfaction through gritted teeth, and it was with some puzzlement he still saw four staggering forms lumber out of the back of the burning hull and into the forest… He opened a channel to the awaiting doomdivers and said simply: “Leto, four survivours coming your way!”, followed suit by a court “Understood!”…
* * *
High above the battle Aramachius and his platoon was swooping in head first. The wind-strength power enough to crush a mans head open on the wings behind him, the pressure alone of such manouvers enough to break the neck of less experienced men. He swooped in, seeing what seemed like the last terminator boarding the landraider. He must not be late! A channel was opened to his squad and he relayed his orders. “Form up, and land behind the raider, let loose on tracks and engine!” As birds of prey the final thousand feets were quickly crossed and Aramachius awaited the onslaught to come, the adrenalin he had begun to crave seemingly pumping through his body in great amounts.
* * *
Icarus on the other hand was occupied with other adversaries, as the rumble had obviously awaken a sleeping monstrosity, as suddenly a daemonic entity of gargantuan proportions revealed it’s entire bulk behind the battlements… Icarus had fought defilers before and swore not to let this one claim more of his men. The oozing and dripping figure an affront to all living and sentient beings! It turned with its turret and as sheer panic gripped him he pointed out towards it and yelled: “Missiles!” All the missile launchers picked up on his cue, and as simultaneous as on a Mordian drilling ground they let fly their missiles, one sheering into the battle-cannon releasing it from it’s hinged elevation system, sending the first shell out in front of it making a huge crater there, while the rest tore into its armour and it reeled backwards from the impacts as the last missile hit it square on where the main cuirass was attacked to the spidery legs, breaking the link sending the top crunching over the body as the daemonic entity within howled a cry of despair for being banished back to the warp, the wail marking each man there for all the rest of their lives…
Yet the traitors had not been idle and the Landraider was gunning the engines towards their lines sending strafing bolts from a gleeful daemonic entity behind the controls… It ripped towards and through mayhem squad in what seemed to Icarus as slow motion, and two soldiers never got up again, cut in half by the bolts and missing half a torso and a shoulder, they were dead before they hit the ground…
Icarus bit his teeth together and mentally reminded himself that he was saving countless lives for each that was lost. He did the “lightning” sign and the sign for “Reinforcements” to his vox-caster nearby, and Themis, a veteran of many campaigns, quickly ascertained the ETA of the Lightning wave who was to follow them into battle, and relayed to them that they should take out the Rhinos before they got to their position. He soon after indicated with three times ten fingers to his colonel… 30 seconds!
Icarus awaited with glee as the as the monstrous Landraider rumbled towards them, his men reassured by his steadfast resolve, and the smirk on his face, as Decimus shouted encouraging words about the worth and honour of their ways and labours, the pet Vapourwyrm Draco’s shrill cries fueling their bloodlust even more as the very embodiment of their history were flapping its wings around the depressed Medic Helios, who sadly could do nothing for the dead guardsmen… Icarus paid it no heed though, for Aramachius and his Talons were descending and were now visible ghosts against the sandy wind, landing perfectly around the Landraider, letting loose at blank-range with a massive melta-barrage, sheering clean off one of the lascannon-sponsons, but remarkably not getting through the leathery hide which encompassed it. Icarus grabbed the vox-caster mike from Themis shouting “Lightnings, take out that landraider!” Soon after a spinechilling cry came from the winds as what seemed like the Dragon mother of little Draco was on the wings as Ignatius swooped past the roaring troops sending but a single lascannon shot punching through the landraider and igniting the promethium exploding it in a huge ball of shrapnel and fire. Icarus cursed since this meant casualties in the Inferno squadron, but it was something that needed to be done…. Their phalanx had to hold so that they could outshoot the surviving enemy forces before they reinforced the Iron Warriors.
* * *
Leto cruised behind the ‘forest’, staying out of sight of the guns. Although he didn’t expect them to see the Doomdivers in this storm, it wasn’t smart to gamble on it. Then four outlines became visible in the outskirts of the ‘forest’, and Leto ordered Orz, the sergeant of Magmaticus, to engage them with the lances, keeping this flank secure from marines bypassing their positions to get further North. He however made a final pass over the ‘woods’, a sinking feeling of dread encompassing him, although he didn’t know why.
When he swooped over the ‘forest’ though, the reason became clear! Both the Rhinos that had driven towards their position had decided to dismount on this flank. A realisation that he had doomed his men came over him, but he clenched his teeth, not willing to see their sacrifice go unavenged…
As the vile possessed marines lept on the circling doomdivers, Leto lead his charge headlong into the fray, and their lances sent four marines to their deaths pierced by several feat of lances, as Leto started his circling of the marines, swooping and darting to and fro to slay the heathen marines with his trusted powersword. Yet these traitors he had fought before and they are known for their stoic natures and difficulty of termination, and after the initial charge, Leto’s men were picked off one by one… He even got wounded twice by icky blades of corroded metal before he decided to abandon the fight… Alas two marines were still present and with deadly bolter fire they clipped his wings and Leto plunged to the ground as darkness in a massive smash, and he embraced the coming darkness.
* * *
Icarus took the vox-caster from Themis and said calmly: “Lightnings, happy Rhino-hunting, over and out!”
At this time the two rhinos from the patrol had reinforced the enemy position and through the sickening forest Icarus could hear the Wyrm-cry as the Doomdivers charged headlong into the forces. He had always admired Leto, the leader and living icon of their swooping forces, their only survivor of the ill fated Ruulian Landing, and an inspiration to every man no matter their rank. Leto had given up several promotions to continue doing what he loved and although distantly related in Icarus-family Ood felt pride that his house sported such selfless heroes.
* * *
Aramachius landed with grace, taking two steps to steady himself, before screaming at the top of his lungs! “Meltas!” while pointing and shooting with his plasma pistol at the landraider, and all the stormtroopers and the entire Inferno platoon let loose with their weapons of destruction. When the steam parted a bit Aramachius was amazed to see the behemoth still standing, groaning noises more sentient and alive than sheer metal on metal came from the monstrosity, and with wide eyes he saw the side door open and a gargantuan terminator whose stench reached him in a heartbeat came stumbling out of the transport, green eyed with a sense of rage around his being this was Gorangaal himself, no doubt about it. Aramachius steeled himself and swallowed through the course throat as both sides amassed behind their leaders…
* * *
Soon dragged back to reality Icarus was forced to react to the other flank. The traitor forces were devastated, but with surviving terminators ripping through the Inferno Claw and the Rhino which had just slain one talon on the left flank could alone topple the balance, and Icarus didn’t know how things fared in the forest, although the lightnings reported that all Rhinos were down and needed new targets… Icarus took a faithful decition: They were well dug in and could at this moment probably outshoot any forces that came towards their phoenix, so he ordered the lightnings to shoot at any surviving terminators rather than the bunker, knowing full well that it got to be emptied at this time. A massive barrage from the howling lightnings smashed into the ground behind the landraider where Icarus couldn’t see, and he pictured dead traitors in his minds eye, sending his attention to the left flank directing the missile launchers to end the career of the forces there staggering from their busted Rhino, when they died in a hail of Wyrm secretions from deadly Phoenix Krak Missiles, the crust and mucus around their frames scorched as the marines burned from within, their skin, bones and sinew turned to a molten soup which ran out from any cracks in their armour… Icarus felt it was too kind a fate for such traitors, agonizing as it may be…
* * *
Aramachius heard but a veil long off and mixed emotions bubbled inside him… He knew only too well the power of the lightnings and at this range it could cost them dearly to be within melta-range, when the thing blew. “Emperor watch over us…” Aramachius prayed as two searing streaks of light punched through the sand-storm, Gorangaal watching in wonder at this new threat. The las-beams pierced through the landraider hull, igniting the promethium and sending the whole vehicle to hell in a gigantic plume of infernal flames. The shrapnel from the blast tore through the squads and more than half their numbers were penetrated by burning fragments, dead before they hit the ground, a series of wailing guardsmen tossed sky-high and all about by the shockwave… Aramachius’ quick reactions had saved his life for now, ducking beneath two huge sheats of metal that would have sheered his head off or his body in half, he still lived with countless burning metal fragments within his body, as he laid there on his side slowly bleeding, dark tendrils creeping upon his consciousness. With a smile of defiance on his lips, he passed out as he saw two of the terminators that had stood closest to the tank didn’t get back up, and the reduced Honorifica moved towards the bunker, as the lightnings swooped overhead and the sandstorm started raining melted glass particles that made beautiful music on his armour.
* * *
Icarus felt a firm hand on his shoulder, and turned towards the Commissar, seeing his stare and looked in the general direction. It was not possible! Totally taken aback, Icarus looked in awe and dread as a tattered and dented Terminator Lord emerged with one brother along the sides of the Landraider, having survived the Lightning Strike… “All forces, fire at will!” Icarus said with defiance on his lips as the combined might struck out to claim Gorangaal, their target, half obscured in the sandy mists!
Epilogue:
Then the sand settled later in the day, it was clear that some of the traitors had managed to escape, Gorangaal amongst them, but without Rhinos at their disposal, the deadly lightnings seeing to that, they had to walk, and never came to the Iron Warriors aid in time, and the Agrippa colonel called in that Forgan, his pupil had been rescued and that their efforts had paid off. Sitting around on the lightning deck of the XX was the remainder of his Phoenix, apathy sinking in as the post battle depressions set in… Icarus stood on stiff limbs, suddenly feeling very old…
“Men of Harakon, hear me now! At this moment our fallen are given last rights, and the wounded are treated. We mourn those who died to defend our beliefs. Gorangaal the Heretic slipped past us today, but our efforts made sure Forgan Anargoth, captured by the enemy and about to be committed cruel surgery on, were rescued unharmed because of our endeavours, and he will be returned to us shortly.” Wild cheers ensued, all remembering the devout and pious Forgan who were hand-picked to follow the inquisition on a special mission, bringing honour to their regiment.
“We can feel pride that at this moment the Heretic is skulking around on foot at the asteroid and his allies are devastated! It is a great day for the guard, and the psykers also tell me that ripples in the warp indicated that a daemon of some magnitude was about to manifest before us, but by the sheer scale of destruction we brought upon the Emperors enemies it decided it was better off to stay in the hellish realities from whence it came!” Wild cheers echoed from the hulls… “I am a man of my word, and before you are 16 bottles of Amasec for the marines killed and 6 for the 3 terminators taken down. Sadly it will have to wait until the end of this campaign, as new orders have come in after our victory, but rest assure that your share are secured!” The men started talking in joyous tones, but soon hushed at the colonels hand-signals… “That was the good news, now comes the bad ones...” A sense of foreboding settled upon the deck as they listened in disbelief of their next task…