Planet: Elysia VII, Segmentum Obscurus.
Location: Carnax Mountains
Local Time: 7.16 am
The gambit had failed.
The taint of chaos chased them still, coming closer with each passing minute. The Inquisitor and his advisors had hoped it would continue to spread in its original direction, expanding along its former path. Instead, the taint had turned back upon itself and followed the Landshark Caravan into the passage through the Carnax Mountains. It hunted them like a bloodhound, like a predator chasing the prey.
Only through the sacrifice of noble heroes were they still alive at all. The deaths of the Space Marines had bought the caravan time, but little else. And as the taint got closer again, so did its effects on the men became more and more pronounced. They had called it ‘the Bloodplague’. It left decay in its wake and those near it were overcome with a berserk bloodlust that defied any sense of self-preservation. Already, two soldiers had been killed by their rabid comrades. Three more had been put down during their rage. Lethal measures had been needed before the berserker madmen had stopped.
Many more were in the infirmary, heavily sedated and under guard. The situation was deteriorating.
Colonel Xanthus, however, was affected differently. At least, he assumed his current state was due to the Bloodplague’s proximity. He felt a strange sense of vagueness, like a disconnection with the world around him. It felt as if he was seeing things through a troubled lens.
He had already talked to several trusted medicae officers, but they declared him physically fit and attributed his condition to extreme stress and lack of sleep. Jared wasn’t convinced. He had considered talking to a psyker, but Librarian Cassius had withdrawn to his private quarters. That left only Inquisitor Veq. Jared felt hesitant about turning to the cold, callous man he knew little about. Telling the Inquisitor of his troubles might well make Veq declare him hereticus and execute him on the spot. Moreover, it would give the Inquisitor unopposed control over his me, and Colonel Xanthus did not trust Veq to treat his soldiers as anything but expendable assets.
Ofcourse, in theory the Inquisitor already had complete authority. But, as long as the men were loyal to Xanthus, there was only so far Veq could go or risk finding himself surrounded by mutinous soldiers. Jared did not want to risk giving the Inquisitor a chance to break that fragile balance.
As he considered these things, alone in the sick bay, a sudden vertigo overcame the Colonel. He gasped out loud as the world spun and then turned to implode upon itself. Everything become black before his eyes. When his vision finally returned, Colonel Jared Xanthus found himself somewhere else, witness to a gruesome spectacle.
……..
A great battlefield loomed before him. From a radiation ravaged sky, a pale burning sun shone down. Before him stretched a field of debris and ruined fortifications that spoke of a great war, leaving only post-apocalytic landscape behind.
The fighting was not done. Amidst the wreckage, two great armies fought each other with such savage fury that no human could have hoped to match. All was bedlam and chaos, as two legions of the Dark Gods struggled for supremacy, howling obscene warcries, bleeding their enemies in the names of the Lords of the Warp.
Mighty daemons flew across the battlefield. Chaos-warped tanks and dreadnoughts stalked amongst the bones of the slain. Traitor Marines levelled ten thousand year old bolters and blew daemonic soldiers apart, before they in turn were slain by daemon cavalry the likes of which made the very ground tremble with the thunder of their brass hooves.
Yet, for all its savage glory, the battle itself paled compared to the single, human sized figure that stood on a hill at the other side of the valley the fighting took place in. Colonel Jared’s gaze was drawn to the man, who in turn regarded him. He could see nothing beyond the brown cloak that covered the stranger’s body, or the deep hood that cast his face in shadows. Yet for all this mystery, Jared felt a strong sense of connection to the individual. He knew the stranger’s name as soon as he set eyes upon him.
In the valley below, the cries to the Dark Gods boomed across the battlefield, as the brutal war reached its cresendo.
……..
In the second battle of the tournament, Chaos fought Chaos as my Daemons faced off against the Traitor Marines. Ironically, like myself, my opponent had brought a mix of Khorne and Nurgle units, though he did have some unmarked squads as well.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2111/battle002.jpg
The mission was Annihilation, using both kill points and victory points. Deployment type was Spearhead. We fought on a ravaged battle field, the table set to resemble a post-apocalyptic war-torn landscape of wreckage and debris, with several fortifications thrown in. Winning the roll to start, my opponent decided to go first. This allowed him to select one such fortification as his table quarter, and castle up inside it.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/5589/battle001.jpg
FORCES AND DEPLOYMENT
The Chaos Marine horde was mostly on foot, with but a single rhino to carry plaguemarines across the field. It did have two Dreadnoughts, a Vindicator, and a Daemon Prince to support its troop core. It also had two squads of Havocs, and some Chosen.
- Daemon Prince of Khorne with Wings
- Dreadnought with Plasmacannon
- Dreadnought with Plasmacannon
- 5 Chosen with 3 Meltaguns and 1 Plasmagun
- 10 Khorne Berserkers with Powerfist
- 10 Khorne Berserkers with Powerfist
- 7 Plaguemarines with Powerfist and 2x Plasmagun
- Chaos Rhino
- 5 Havocs with 4x Heavy Bolter
- 5 Havocs with 2x Lascannon and 2x Missile Launcher
- Vindicator with Daemonic Possession.
The entire force castled up behind their fortifications. The Havocs, Chosen, Vindicator and Plaguemarine rhino stood in the middle. The Dreadnoughts and Berserkers guarded the flanks. The Daemon Prince waited impatiently in the center of the army, eager to order the attack and shed blood in the name of the Blood God.
My own Daemons, like my opponent’s, consisted of a mix of Khorne and Nurgle soldiers.
- Obolos, Great Unclean One with Cloud of Flies
- Essence of Rage, Herald of Khorne on Chariot
- Essence of Hatred, Herald of Khorne on Chariot
- 4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne
- 4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne
- 4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne
- 7 Plaguebearers of Nurgle
- 7 Plaguebearers of Nurgle
- 7 Plaguebearers of Nurgle
- 6 Plaguebearers of Nurgle
- Tsu’lotch, Nurgle Prince with Noxious Touch, Cloud of Flies, Iron Hide and Wings
- Nu’gluuth, Nurgle Prince with Noxious Touch, Cloud of Flies, Iron Hide
- Bu’letch, Nurgle Prince with Noxious Touch, Cloud of Flies, Iron Hide
Battleplan: Although the Chaos Marine’s lack of Rhinos might not make it the most competitive of opposing armies, it was not without some serious threats to my daemons. Between the two Berseker units, the Dreadnoughts, and the Daemon Prince, I was looking at five hard hitting counter-assault units able to tackle even the toughest of my daemons. Additionally, the enemy army had plenty of heavy weapons, meltaguns, and plasmaguns to boot. I knew right away this was going to get furious from turn one. My plan was to try and keep the Dreadnoughts busy, while dealing with the Berserkers first and foremost. I would just trust in the natural toughness of my daemon army to soak up whatever fire came from the rest of the enemy, until I was ready to tackle them as well.
TURN 1 Chaos Marines and Daemons
Content to await the arrival of the Daemons, the Chaos marines remained utterly immobile. They dedicated their prayers to the Dark Gods, so that they may enjoy the slaughter to come.
Then the Daemons arrived. With so much havoc and mayhem to look forward to, the Gods of Chaos were only too happy to grant me my chosen wave. Two packs of Bloodcrushers, two packs of Plaguebearers, two Heralds of Khorne and a Winged Daemon Prince of Nurgle all became available. They were ready to take the fight to the enemy.
Both packs of Bloodcrushers appeared directly in front of the Chaos host, one in middle, the other a little more to the right. The Heralds of Khorne led the assault from the left flank, while the Plaguebearers attempted to appear in the middle, behind the deadly juggernauts. One pack deviated and ended up on the right flank, in assault range of a Dreadnought.
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/4668/battle003.jpg
Tsu’lotch, last, roared his entry into the material world and stepped onto the field of battle near the rightmost pack of Bloodcrushers.
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1575/battle004.jpg
Killpoints: Chaos Marines 0 – Daemons 0
TURN 2 Chaos Marines
With the enemy arrived at last, the Chaos Marines praised the Dark Gods and prepared for battle!
On the right flank, the Dreadnought near my Plaguebearer pack went berserk. It prevented him from shooting. Instead, he moved to the nearest enemy unit. The heavy walker slammed right into my putrid daemons and killed one or two with his claws, though my opponent swiftly realised that the Plaguebearers were likely to keep his walker busy for some time!
Behind the Dreadnought, the Berserkers moved around a bunker and ran to get closer to the front line, unable to assault anything yet. Doing so however brought them into assault range of my Bloodcrushers. Truly, the followers of Khorne care not from where the blood flows!
On the left flank, the second Dreadnought moved to assault the second pack of Juggernauts. So did the Daemon Prince, stretching his wings and flying over the battlefield. The Chosen and Havocs pumped fire into the Khornate daemons first, killing one from each group of Juggernauts with heavy weapons or meltaguns.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2411/battle005.jpg
Then the Prince and the Dreadnought assaulted, killing two more. However, the surviving Juggernaut turned around and scored three wounds on the Prince, cutting deeply into the Khornate leader’s flesh!
There was yet more slaughter to come, as the followers of the Blood God fought each other with unmatched fury. The berserkers on the left flank assaulted the nearest Herald of Khorne and killed him. Though they lost two of their number in the return blows as well.
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/7494/battle006.jpg
Killpoints: Chaos Marines 1 – Daemons 0
TURN 2 Daemons
More Daemonic reserves arrived to join the fight, but not as many as I had hoped. Only the Great Unclean One and the rest of the Plaguebearers were send by the Gods to enter the battle.
The Greater Daemon deep struck first, appearing on the right side near where the Dreadnought was fighting my Plaguebearers. He scattered backwards quite a lot and ran back to try to get to a good position to assault next turn, if he made it.
The Plaguebearers entered the material world as well. One pack appeared on the left flank, more to the rear, on a hill. The second deviated from its original position and ended up right in front of the gunline of enemy havocs.
Despite the lack of reserves, things weren’t looking too bad for my daemons. My Bloodcrushers were in assault range of one group of Berserkers, and a Herald of Khorne was in assault range of the second. I hoped that even if he didn’t win the battle, he’d at least damage them a good deal. Moreover, Obolos on the right flank meant that Tsu’lotch could go hunt the Dreadnought in the middle.
The Daemon Prince of Nurgle flew over to its target and assaulted it, immobilising the walker, but taking two wounds in return from its blows. The Daemon Prince of Khorne roared his fury at the Nurgle Daemon, but was only in base contact with the Bloodcrusher that had harmed it grieviously the previous turn. The Khornate Lord tried to destroy the beast, but put only a single wound on the Crusher. In turn, the Juggernaut sliced his hellblade into the Daemon Prince and finished him off!
While the Plaguebearers scrambled forward, the Herald of Khorne charged into the Berserkers. Again though, it was the Lord of Khorne that fell before the warriors. He killed a single berserker and was slain by the return blows, despite the Berserkers no longer having the advantage of the furious charge.
Fortunately, the Bloodcrushers on the right flank did better. They assaulted the second Berserker unit, and killed all but one or two of the Traitor Marines. They did however lose a second Juggernaut in the retaliation.
Killpoints: Chaos Marines 2 – Daemons 1
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Originally Posted by Vineas
