Having spent the night in the ruins near the center of town Flagelentus
faced the dawn with equal parts of hope and despair. His command of scouts,
sent to reconnoiter the planet of Plaiditius, had been wiped out by the
forces of Chaos found there but he had secured the information necessary to
stem the tide of insanity and death before it washed on the shores of the
Imperium. He knew that those perversions known as Traitor Marines were
close on his heels, but he also knew that his battle brothers were coming
to his aid.
The only question now was who would reach him first...
The forces of Chaos set up in the SW corner of the board, with the Space
Marines in the NE as follows:
Space Marines: Northern edge, W to E; Eyes of the Emperor, Force Asmodeus,
Force Clonus, Force Diablo. Eastern edge, N to S; Force Beelzebub.
Chaos: Western edge, N to S; Blood Rain, LoB. Southern edge, W to E;
Shmo'el the Fallen, Reapers, Shadows of Death
Turn one: The hands of the gods reach into the Black Coffee Cup of Fate,
with the result being that the SMs win initiative, making Chaos go first.
All units go onto Assault orders, with Shmo'el giving a special admonition
to the units in Blood Rain: "Stop the Warhounds or die!" (Forced March,
+10cm move during the turn) which was all the motivation they need to sweep
due East, taking cover behind the hill at 11 o'clock.
On Chaos' Eastern flank, the Shadows of Death rode their Rhinos as far as
they could go before dismounting and taking advantage of their bonus move
available to infiltrators on the first move; it was clear that they would
swamp the objective before the turn was out (25 cm Rhino + 5cm normal move
+ 30cm bonus move = 60cm! Not bad for the first half of the first turn.).
The main bulk of the army, the Reapers, moved East to support the Shadows
and cover their retreat once Flagelentus was theirs. Shmo'el moved due
North, the center of the line, and the LoB ground forward.
The Space Marines, seeing that their job was being dictated to them,
surged ahead. The Eyes of the Emperor sped WSW to the crest of the hill at
11 o'clock, with Force Asmodeus swinging around to plug the gap between the
northern hill and the western hill, which Blood Rain was headed for. Force
Clonus moved South to threaten the Shadows of Death, with the Whirlwinds of
Force Diablo moving to the crest of the hill positioned at 2 o'clock. The
fast assault craft of Force Beelzebub sped South on Assault orders, keeping
the hills between them and those they hunted.
The Imperium was hot on the trigger and fired first. The only units in
range of the Whirlwinds of Force Diablo were the lead elements the Shadows
of Death, but only light casualties ensued. The forces of Chaos blazed
away, with all shots falling short.
The Warhounds of the Eyes of the Emperor locked their weapons batteries
onto the LoB, causing only tertiary damage (1 pt); the LoB only managed to
put a Blast Marker on the Warhounds with it's Mega-Cannon (left arm, no
targets with Doom Burner in right arm).
The Imperium had been ahead of Chaos at every turn; now Chaos got to go
first.
Due to the presence of Shmo'el, the Shadows were able to overcome the
confusion of the BMs and swamp the objective. Flagelentus died valiantly,
for a whipped lap dog of the Emperor, and the data was placed in the
compartment of a now-empty Rhino, with Veterans forming a protective wall
between it and the approaching marines. The Reapers did their best to mix
it up with Force Beelzebub on the SE flank, but only a limited number of
units from each side were able to take part. The Reapers barely won,
killing three Attack Bikes and one Land Speeder while losing two Chaos
Marines in return. In the center, the very leading elements of Force
Asmodeus (two Scouts) and the Shadows (one bike) get into a fire fight,
with the Imperium losing and being forced to retreat.
The Marines counter attacked, with Force Asmodeus rushing to avenge their
fallen comrade, Flagelentus. The special forces of the Shadows of Death
were clearly outnumbered, but held their ground til the last minute and
kept the vengeful Marines away from the precious cargo of the Rhino. When
the dust settled, the Shadows had wracked up a whopping 8! Blast Markers
and were forced to retreat. Force Asmodeus lost four units of Tactical
marines, while the Shadows lost two Rhinos, one Bike, and one unit of Chaos
Marines. (Actually, retreating in this case was good, as they already had
the objective.) The Eyes of the Emperor fire fight with Blood Rain, killing
a unit of Chaos Marines and forcing them to retreat.
At the end of the turn, all Space Marine forces rally. Blood Rain rallies
and removes all BMs, but the Shadows of Death fail to rally (even with
Shmo'el looking over their collective shoulder), retaining some BMs being
limited to a Retreat move next turn.
<Author's note: work is piling up and I have to leave soon. Part III
tomorrow...>
Nickles
Received on Thu Aug 28 1997 - 23:46:37 UTC