Excerpt from “A Thousand Spent Shells – My Days with Red Dagger” penned by Master Sergeant Callahan of The Allied 1st Mechanicus

I had served with the man in many theatres already, but he was a figure you would see from a distance, a voice you would hear issuing orders over the vox, a shape on the horizon leading back the wounded and weary from a successful battle, or managing to single-handedly guide the last survivors to safety through unimaginable odds. I’d heard tales about him since I had first been attached to the Allied 1st, and, as was my wont, had chosen to take them all with a grain of salt. I’d met too many legends who had failed to live up to their stories, I’d watched a few die, face down on the ground, bawling for their mothers as their guts spilled through their hands.

But I tell you this, ‘Flash’ Paget…he had an aura about him.

He sat there looking out upon the sapphire colored seas as the forces of Chaos descended upon us. As those tolling bells and creaking war engines filled the horizon and vast clouds of bloated postulant flies blotted out the sun. We’d been redirected from Gimat, part of the general retreat, but Paget had seen something. We were supposed to return to Iunden, we were supposed to move back to reinforce and to bolster the defenses there. Iunden, they said, Iunden would be where Chaos would strike next, Iunden, we needed every man.

But Captain Harry Paget hadn’t seen it like that. He looked at the star maps and considered the troop movements, and he had suggested we redeploy to Lorelli. The Shining Sapphire of the Subsector, a resort planet. It was already heavily defended, the Raven Guard and Immortal Host had halted the brunt of the Chaos advance, and the Fusil Orbital Control had held the line in the final rush. As far as I, or anyone at Command could tell, Lorelli was one of the safest and least threatened worlds out there, part of a feint that had already failed, and certainly not a major interest to further Chaos incursions of any note.

But Captain Paget had argued, he’d wheedled, he’d explained. I will admit, with my shame to The Emperor burning within me, that I found myself convinced the man was a coward, simply seeking to move away from the core conflict. But he insisted we needed a deeper presence on Lorelli, he stated conviction that the Chaos attack would doubtless continue there, he swore with tears in his eyes that he wished he could come to Iunden where a major battle would doubtless occur, but he just had to go to Lorelli because something in his bones told him a crisis would happen there that only he could halt.

Command finally relented.

Two months to the day after we had arrived and begun digging in…that’s when the fevers first started hitting the Hives. It began in the lower levels at first, a few extra scavs dying in pain on their doorsteps. But soon the Crimson Ruin was in full effect, men bleeding out in seconds, their bowels tearing open as their innards ran down their legs. Doomsday Cults starting up by the dozen, all swearing that the spatial distortion in the sky, the ‘Maw of the Dragon’ foretold the end times. Me and mine spent far too much of our day putting down minor insurrections and killing this or that other insignificant warlord who thought he could claim the Hive for whatever blasphemous heresy he happened to serve.

Then the flies came, and so did the armies. Even the Raven Guard seemed surprised by that, having detected no way for the Death Guard to have arrived planetside, but it was clear they were here and it was equally clear they had come to fight. An Ork fleet appeared out of the Talf Asteroid Belt, declaring itself WAAAAGH! Urtygog, one of the many splinter warbands from WAAAAGH! Zog’dakka. While the Tzeentchian fleets had been halted by the defense systems and careful workings of the Space Marines, the Orks showed that raw brutal force could perhaps outstrip even daemonic cunning. Their Rokks powered through the defensive grid, taking punishing damage and even losing many of their number, but enough won through, some still were lost, plunging into the vast oceans, but others plowed canyons miles long before rumbling to a stop and unleashing their gibbering green cargo. The Orks were able to add their numbers to the fell march of the Death Guard and their daemonic allies, pleased to follow any warband that appeared to have mayhem in mind.

In moments, the once idyllic pleasure planet had become the most lethal warzone of the entire combat theatre. I was right there in the room when the news was delivered to Captain Paget. His face seemed to lose all of its color as he approached one of the grand viewing windows and watched the armies coming, like a boiling black and green wave of pestilence seeking to sweep the Hive before it. I stood with him, already awaiting his orders, and so I heard what he whispered to himself, and it was the comment of a man who knew he had been proven correct but didn’t want to crow his own praises;

“Of course…just my luck.”

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4,000 per side.
No Warlord traits.
Any flying vehicle must be able to enter hover mode or cannot operate within the tight confines of the Hive.
Flying Monstrous Creatures are unaffected, and may swoop normally.
1 Objective is placed in the board center – 8 others are placed evenly over the rest of the board.
When a scoring unit claims an objective roll d6 – on a 1-3 the objective is real, on a 4-6 it is meaningless and removed. No more than 4 fake objectives. The Center objective is always real.
Mysterious Objectives (though…we forgot to do this)
Table quarters deployment.

Most Objectives held at game end wins.
Kill points for tiebreaker.

The Immortal Host

Librarian
Librarian on Bike
Some other Bike HQ (Chapter Master?)
25 Space Marine Bikes in some sort of split of units.
1x Devestator Squad w. Missiles
Whirlwind
2x Typhoon Landspeeders (not a squadron)
Tac Squad in Rhino w. Melta
Sternguard in Rhino w. Combi Stuff
Techmarine w. Thunderfire Cannon
Some IA artillery squad


We all probably need this closeup.


I am pretty sure the melta was ‘counts as’ Grav weaponry.



The Allied 1st Mechanicus
1 Company Command Squad (standard and Master of Ordinance)
Command Chimera
2x Platoon Command Squad w. power weapon and plasma pistol and rifle.
2x Blobbed Infantry squads w. power weapons and Commissars and Grenade Launchers
2x HWT w. Autocannons
1x 5 Ratling Snipers
Leman Russ Punisher
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Manticore
20 Man Conscript Squad (aka – meatwall)


We shall die in The Emperor’s Name!



The Raven Guard – Lachlann’s Unkindness

1x Shrike (Shadow Captain Bran Lachlann)
5x Vanguard Veterans (3x Claws, 1x Relic Blade, 1x Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield)



Papa Nurgle’s Merry Cavalcade o’ Funsies!

Great Unclean One
Chaos Lord (Sorcerer?) I dunno, some other Chaos HQ.
5 Beasts of Nurgle (d’awwww, puppies!)
10 man Plague Marine squad
10 Man Plague Marine squad in Rhino
3x 2 man Obliterator squads
2x 10 man Plaguebearers


Ytsan’cm says; om-nom-nom-nom.





Waaaaaaaagh! Urtygog
Wazz’dakka
20 man Stormboyz mob w. Nob and Klaw
1x Battlewagon w. big shootas, RPJ, and armored plates
1x Battlewagon w. hard top, armor plates, RPJ, 2x rokkits, and kannon
15 man Lootas
3 Skorchas
4x Trukkboyz w. Nob, klaw, RPJ

Prepare for krumpin’!

The battle takes place at Tarn-et-Garrone Hive, where Chaos has breached the outer defenses and are starting their rampage and looting of the main Hive. The Imperium has arranged a series of defensive chokeholds to try to pin down the more powerful Chaos army in limited firefights where the more prepared defenders can slowly bleed out the larger army.





The battlefield features multiple levels of elevation and a series of narrow alleys and dilapidated ruins to battle over.


As is usual, the Orks seem to take the front and center positions while Chaos bravely leads from the rear


The Ork Biker Boss and the Stormboyz sit secure amidst the assembled parking lot.


Obliterators prepare themselves some solid sniper positions while the Beasts of Nurgle happily galumph around on the lower levels, wishing they had a friend.


The Imperium has a well-entrenched position though.


Not to mention, enough heavy artillery to make even a Plague Marine take notice.


On the left flank, Shadow Captain Lachlann stands ready alongside heavy warmachines and massed infantry to hold the line and defend the Hive.


A massed overview.



Benny and his lads infiltrate into the battlefield, ready to lay down some suppressing fire.


Imperial spotters see the oncoming hordes and radio in the contact, the enemy has arrived!


As the Chaos and Ork forces come charging into the kill zone, the color guard waves in signal, and the battle has commenced.

The Chaos Lord (sorcerer?...I guess I am letting slip that he had minimal effect in this battle…ah well) and the Orks move inward, sweeping up from the low levels towards their goals.


Ork Deffcoptas sweep in along the Imperial right, seeking easy prey.


The Battlewagons rumble after them, Lootas hooting and hollering in glee as they ready their weapons.


The Obliterators line up their shots.


A large amount of Ork and Chaos shooting targets this HWT, only managing to silence one of their guns however.


The Thunderfire cannon is blown to pieces, the Techmarine will spend the rest of the battle sort of standing around shrugging and trying to justify his existence.


The Librarian discovers that though his chosen deployment spot is quite safe…well…he just can’t find a way to exit his deployment spot.


The HWTs use their autocannons to good effect and explode a Battlewagon, Benny and his fellow Ratling snipers quickly gun down a few more and leave the Lootas scrambling off the board in terror.


An objective is discovered to be false, though the HWTs secure another by the firebase.


The Manticore earns its keep, heavy blasts tearing apart the Chaos center.


The Punisher tank begins firing, tearing apart an Ork trukk.


The Steel Legion detachment readies themselves to fire on any survivors.


Though the deffcoptas were fired upon, little damage was caused by the Devastators and Whirlwind.


The Immortal Host brace themselves.


The Chaos forces roar in defiance as they move forward still.


Ork Trukks rumble up narrow side alleys.


The core of the Ork host moves further along the flank, securing an objective.


Plague zombies crawl forth from the depth of the Hive, these victims of the Crimson Ruin now in service to the dark powers.


The warhost claims the left flank and an objective.


Chaos and the Orks also hold some in their deployment zone.


The Chaos Beasts slobber forward, happily crooning as they spot some friends.


“By the Emperor! Fight to the last, fight to the last!”
The Platoon Command Squad is crushed to pulp, dying either by overheating plasma weaponry or being pulped into red goo by the happily bouncing beasts. They then pause, confused as to where their friends went, but thankfully there seems to be friendly folks all around! This is the bestest day ever!


The Great Unclean One continues his plodding walk forward.


“Oi! You gits wrecked our trukk, now we iz gonna wreck your face!”
The Trukk Boyz surge forward, but an amazing degree of accuracy from the Guardsmen nearly halves their force before they can even get ahold of their foes.


“WAAAGH! Da Orks! Da Orks!”
“Die, greenskin scum!”
For the men of Armageddon it is personal, for the Orks it is just another lovely brawl. The Sargeant quickly brandishes his power maul and challenges the Ork Nob who had been looking to rip apart the nearby tank. The Ork obligingly swung around to cave in the human’s head, but the power maul smashing into his face had other goals.


The Imperial Guard manages to overcome the Orks with only minor losses.


Retreating from the attack of the Deffcoptas, the Immortal Host squad is lessened, but still in the fight.


Sergeant Callahan and a squad of his Red Dagger Storm Troopers had camped out for three days in a drainage gully waiting for this moment. Springing out of their hiding place nearly a mile overhead they activate their grav chutes and drop onto the battlefield.


They ready their melta weaponry as they land alongside the last battlewagon.


OMG, OMG, OMG! The Beasts can barely contain their excitement as a bunch of figures in black armor come rushing towards them. Friends! New friends were coming to hug them and love them and play with them! Holy cow, this was soooo amazing, there is no way this day could be any better…unless they have food, maybe they have FOOD!


The Punisher and the Steel Legion eye their next Trukk boy victims.


With a lot of combined shooting effort from bikes, Tac squads, and even the Whiteshields, the Ork Deffcoptas are blasted from the sky.


Immortal Host rapid response teams had been positioned at key points throughout the Hive, and arrived at this battle fresh from their last.


The bikes and landspeeders blitzing onto the battlefield to inflict maximum damage.


Other units pull back as the Raven Guard steps in to halt the Beasts of Nurgle.


A view of the bikes shoring up the left flank.


They cut off the alley, destroying Ork vehicles as the Manticore rains shells down.


The Ork advance becomes a snarled mess.


“Victorus Aut Mortis!” The Vanguard Veterans of Lachlann’s unkindness number only five men on the field this day, but paired with their captain they make their presence felt, tearing into the Beasts of Nurgle.


The Beasts are slain and the center ruin claimed.


The damage to the Ork warhost is extensive.


Holding the center.


An overview.


Considering the devastating blows to his forces, Ytsan’cm gugles in displeasure as he orders a general retreat, withdrawing from the Hive. The Chaos and Ork Generals tip their king.

The Imperium Wins!


Harry Paget didn’t even have time to come on from reserves…just as planned

Overall a fun mission even though we whiffed a few of the special rules, I am left to wonder what the mysterious objectives would have done for the course of the battle.

Afterwards there was some discussion of what could have been done different to help out Chaos. The generally agreed upon point was the Orks really wasted their impact moving along the flank, and should have driven straight down the middle to try and disrupt the gunline and also to get in under the range of the Manticore and Whirlwind. With the different height levels of the board, some of the “open” looking areas were actually the most secure due to inability to see the target from huge swathes of the firing lanes.

Also, quite frankly, the Chaos/Ork faction suffered a truly horrendous round of shooting Turn 2 (stuff like, firing 6 plasma cannons at an infantry squad and killing a grand total of 1 Guardsman) and that really left the Imperials in a position to have a devastating Turn 2 when all the bikes showed up.

Imperium MVP
The Manticore/Whirlwind I think. Both of us saw the wisdom of an indirect fire weapon with the crowded board conditions, and even the fear of what they could do affected some of our opponent’s play. Also they did do a solid amount of damage, I know the Manticore ate up some Plague Marines, damaged a Trukk, destroyed the Skorchas, killed a Beast of Nurgle, and probably some other minor bits of damage. With the table quarters deployment both armies had a lot to fear from blasts.

Imperium WTF
The Stormtroopers.

Yeah, they showed up Turn 2. Yeah they had a perfect drop in to get the side armor on that Battlewagon. Yeah they hit with both shots. Then…well, I rolled 3 on 2d6 twice, and just sort of sat there shrugging. Lackluster, m’lads, lackluster.

Chaos MVP
The Deffcoptas, no doubt.

Though they didn’t kill much (though, frankly, in the grand scope of how much Imperial stuff was actually killed they did as good as any other Chaos/Ork unit, really) they did draw an inordinate amount of firepower and attention away from the main force. When the Whirlwind, multiple Tac squads, Rhinos, even some of the bikes are all pumping shots into one squad of 6 Deffkoptas…yeah, you’re in the opposition’s head. They did exactly what they were supposed to do, and did it well, and even inflicted some damage on the way. If even half of the Chaos/Ork army had done as well as them it would have been a much different battle.

Chaos WTF
The Great Unclean One. Yeah, I’ll admit the game ending on Turn 2 makes this a bit harsh. But still, all he really did was walk around, snort a bit, and then go home. There are an infinite number of things Chaos could have spent points on that would have been more helpful. Heck, probably a few Ratlings would have been more helpful. He didn’t even draw any Imperial fire, because we knew he wasn’t a threat because he couldn’t get in and at us.

Xerxes, Librarian of the Immortal Host, eased himself out of the Rhino transport. He had joined the battle despite his injuries from Gimat, but still could feel the damage and knew he needed more rest before he was truly back in fighting shape. Thankfully this battle had gone well enough that he hadn’t needed to exert himself unduly.

“Report,” he sharply ordered Brother Mikail of Shadow Squad.

“The Raven Guard and our rapid response force have both already relocated to other points of engagement. The Raven Guard reports successful luring of the bulk of the Ork Horde into the prepared promethium sump, and indicates 70% estimated casualties with the rest fleeing in disarray. Captain Lachlann has dispatched skirmishers to harry them until they withdraw. There was a slight breakout on the fourth redoubt fireline, but the Imperial Guard deployed Ogryn and Storm Troopers to repel the assault. Commissar Steele indicates the lines are firm and morale is at optimal levels. The Rapid response teams are moving in to aid 1st Company, they are holding the lines at the Meta’arpal Gate, reporting extensive daemonic incursion but the ambush sites are holding for now.”

“We shall move there then,” nodded Xerxes, if Chaos has any last tricks it will likely happen there.” He paused for a moment, watching as the Guardsmen along the gunline let out rousing cheers for one of their captains driving by on a Chimera, waving his hat and smiling contentedly. “Remind the Guard that the battle isn’t won yet, even if we hold the Hive we still need to push them off planet.”

“Sir.” Mikail saluted and departed to issue the orders and corral the Guardsmen. Xerses nodded to himself as he considered the battle, it was a good success, and all the commanders who had taken part could feel pride in it. The only question in his mind was about the sense of the thing. Clearly the Death Guard had figured out a way to pierce the defenses, so why not alert the Thousand Sons of it? A coordinated and combined attack would likely have seen the Hive fall…

They are not aligned, he realized, they both have their purpose here and neither side wants the other to win. He smiled to himself as he considered this. That made things interesting, and that might be just the advantage the Immortal Host needed to make sure that it was they who ended this war in possession of what they were here for.

===========================
“Poor Grandfather, he fell for your tricks.” Nyxx burbled happily to herself as she watched the information come in on the results of the attack on Lurelli.

Suo’luben nodded, the Lord of Change having known that Nurgle would fall for the feint and presume that Tzeentch knew that something of value was on Lurelli, now it was The Death Guard who would be locked in combat there, wasting time and resources on a planet of questionable strategic value save for despoiling a meaningless shrine world.

“What of your agents, what do they report?”

“The Eldar think themselves so clever,” Nyxx giggled as she plucked up some grapes from a nearby platter, her slaves having left her a veritable feast around her plush, silk laden, divan, “but they are not half so much. I already have agents in the works, when the Farseer steps off her transport it will be not into the questionable embrace of Imperial agents, but rather the warm welcome of my agents.”

“Are you worried this will weaken you, even with success there is a high likelihood your Cult will be exposed.”

“They’re only humans,” laughed Nyxx as she waved her hand in dismissal, “if someone breaks them I’ll just get more.”

“Indeed. Let us hope they are up to the task though, I have a feeling the Eldar might put up a bit of a fight.”