***As Excerpted from 'The Foe-Hammer of The Emperor: The Career of 'The Iron Lady' General Linda Eppledorffer***

After the glorious campaign upon the Saios system where the fire and fury of The Emperor was brought to countless vile heretics and xeno scum you would think that any normal man would seek nothing but some quietude, a time of solace and rest to steady the nerves, ease the pains and horrors or war, and to re-gird oneself for proper battle once again. But, of course, then Commander Harry Paget was no normal man! After only the briefest of returns to the headquarters of the Allied 1st Mechanicus Paget quickly ended up in a meeting with Lord Dominatus after a rather boring formal dinner event (to which I wore appropriate battle garb and gear, Commander Paget made his usual sort of small compliment, noting that I he often appreciated an adjutant who went around armed at all times. Something about me being a 'holster fit for a weapon' or some similar Hive slang, but I knew well his meaning and stayed watchful by his side until he ordered me away, insisting that I enjoy myself while he went upstairs with Lord Raglan's young wife to admire her collection of artworks. Thankfully Lord Raglan clearly had need of him, and in a conversation I was able to tell him where Paget had gone, and clearly it was an important matter as he had cursed and rushed off, red-faced and sweating in great consternation upstairs, though clearly Commander Paget had already left, I'm not sure how as I'd been watching the stairs, and it wasn't like he was going to go leaving by leaping out a window or something!

In any case, shortly after this encounter Lord Raglan was arranging some sort of important matter for Commander Paget, because he was oft worried about it for the next few days, I'm guessing that matter involved departing the planet quickly, as Commander Paget, in his usual quick way, had me pack him up in the middle of the night (the smiting of Heresy knows no clock!) and we departed with Inquisitor Luthor Dominatus to handle an inspection of the Shrine World Thysilla.

Commander Paget laughingly described it to me as a 'small vacation' but this was clearly just something he had to say since I doubtless lacked the clearance he had. Doubtless my readers are by now well familiar with his many services to The Inquisition, but at that point I was almost still young and foolish enough to fall for one of Harry's little white lies. That said, I'm glad I remembered to pack our wargear, as it would soon be put to heavy use indeed!

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Harry Paget awfully hoped that doddering lackwit Raglan would manage to forget any *suspected* infidelities while he was off on this jaunt, he was at least fairly certain that all of the Imperial Guard platoons he had requisitioned for Luthor's little mission were generally loyal to him first and Raglan second, which was always a good thing when certain impish young brides with far too brazen a dress and artfully firm and lush breasts started to nuzzle up on ol 'Flash' hero of The Imperium. He was only a man, after all, and hardly to be held accountable for such things, besides the little minx had clearly de-robed of her own free will, and had certainly seemed to be enjoying-

"What are you thinking about, Harry?" The soft question came from Ekatarina Marbray, Luthor's pet mind witch. Harry had never held much truck with psykers, the idea of people being able to look inside your head without permission was fairly horrifying to him as so much of his career and status was based on some...slightly alternative facts as to what may or may not have happened in...well...every engagement he'd ever been part of. He glanced at the young noblewoman, whose eerie pale eyes seemed to be looking right through him. He offered her a small smirk, a bit of the ol' devil-may-care rakishness that was part of his character.

"Contemplating how any heresy could possibly find a root here, in such a holy place as this," he waved his arm to take in the rolling fields, dotted with cathedral spires from one end of the horizon to the other as they sped along the roadway in the converted open topped Chimera that Luthor had requisitioned.

"Heresy hides best in the open, and in openness finds root," offered Thelonius Dolorous, the Knight quietly sitting and sharpening his crusade blade, a behavior he seemed to do at any excuse to avoid sitting still.

"I'm just not sure why we're heading out to The Cardinal's private estates," Harry sighed as he glanced out the window again, "I had thought that Inquisitor Luthor had finished his investigation and we were headed back home."

"That is exactly the point." The booming voice immediately silenced all conversation as the towering figure in thick ceremite armor spoke. He had a habit of standing so still and motionless that you almost might have mistook him for one of the gaudy statues littering the shrine world, even now as he spoke he did not move, though Harry supposed that was part of his training. "The Inquisitor's plan is a simple, yet direct one, lull the suspect into a sense of complacency, and then strike."

"Strike what? This is a pious planet." This opinion came from Nero Jaxx, a man who was undoubtedly a fellow Hiver, or Harry was a grox, but who took pains to try to come across as a dandified fop. "I swear I'm never going to get the smell of incense out of my clothes."

"Something isn't right here," Ecatarina countered, her voice having been a constant bug in Luthor's ear, doubtless fanning the paranoia that was ripe in all Inquisitor's as far as Harry could tell. "The Cardinal was hiding something...deep in his mind...like a maze...." She drifted off into a half trance, as she often did when thinking about her premonitions. Nero placed a gentle and unsure hand on her shoulder, trying to offer solace even as he was unnerved by how forward he was being in touching her.

The towering armored figure spoke again. "it will all be settled soon, we are thirty seconds from arrival."

Harry was unsure if the towering warrior had an internal chronometer in his armor, or if he had just been keeping careful track of the time, but his prediction turned out to be true as the Chimera rumbled to a stop before The Cardinal's palatial estates. The group quickly disembarked, Luthor climbing out of the front cabin, already strapping his weapons to himself as he pulled his hat firmly down on his head.

"The shadow of heresy cannot hide from the fires of truth," he noted as he motioned his warband forward.

Harry sighed as he loosened his laspistol in its holster and tried to unobtrusively linger in the shadow of the other Acolytes, figuring that flak armor was nice, but nothing beats a solid body between you and something trying to kill you.

332 points per side.
4x4 table
The Inquisition have 10 rounds to defeat The Cardinal before he can complete his ritual
The Cardinal must stay within 6" of the ritual altar

Here are links (hopefully) to the special characters I designed for both armies - generally speaking they're right out of the rulebooks with some point modifications for unique gear and the like.
I think it is our intention to leave these special characters open for the sides to use as they will during the campaign.
The first document is The Imperium, the second is Chaos

https://www.scribd.com/document/359452747/40k-Special-Characters
https://www.scribd.com/document/359452748/40k-Special-Characters2

The Inquisition


Inquisitor Luthor Dominatus wields a power sword and incinerator, his steely will will keep his warband in line.


Tech Adept Pontius Fleek wields a pair of flamers, useful for clearing the way through heresy


Harry 'Flash' Paget, Commander of the 1st Allied Mechanicus, hero of The Imperium, slayer of Daemon Princes, lover of women.


Lt. Linda Eppledorfer - Harry's adjutant, tends to prefer firing first and not asking questions at all.


Nero Jaxx, gunslinger and bodyguard to Ekatarina.


If it takes a wych to catch a wych, Luthor is ready for that eventuality..


Spring Hassig, ex-Arbirtes now serving Luthor as an acolyte.


Thelonius Dolourus, this crusading knight is always ready to take the front lines.


Dolan Harner, Imperial Priest, Foe-hammer of Heresy.

and last but assuredly not least;


Shield-Captain Val Kiel, accompanying Luthor due to potential heresy so close to Terra being a security threat to The Imperial Palace itself, he will be a fearsome foe to any Chaos scum that they come across.



The Heretics


Cardinal-Astral Goradon, the most powerful man secular and spiritual on Thysilla, he now holds pact with dark forces of Chaos.


The Red Sisterhood, armed to the teeth and pledged to protect The Cardinal with their very lives.


The Cardinal's Eyes. His secret psi-police force that he uses to root out rebellion even as the populace begins to think about it.



The Cardinal is also attended by 20 loyal Cult troops.


As well as the sorcerer Achraf Sarraf and his squad of Thousand Sons, here to make sure everything goes...wait for it...just as planned.

The battleground will be The Cardinal's private estates. Here, the twisting walkways already starting to shift into spiral patterns that are starting to further corrupt him, body and soul, he shall use his altar to finish a dark pact and deliver this world to Chaos.

The Imperium forces are deployed in the entryway of the estate, The Cardinal has to deploy near his altar, the rest of the territory is free for Chaos to use as they will.


The Cardinal begins his ritual.


The Red Sisterhood prepares to defend him from the balcony walkway.


Chaos' general decides that though it might be thematic to spread his forces out, he'd rather have The Inquisition be welcomed by a withering array of gunfire immediately, and so loads up the balcony facing the gate.


The Eyes and some escort Red Sisters ready themselves just out of sight.


"What dark treachery is this, Chaos and HERESY!"
Inquistor Luthor draws his blade as he sees what transpires within.
"Acolytes, attend your master!"
"Aw...aw crap," mutters Harry as he draws his chainsword.


Amidst these idols to the Imperium, the loaylists now face dark treachery from within, who shall emerge victorious?

"That is a lot of firepower between us and them," noted Harry.
"You don't want to charge straight ahead!?!" Dolan Harnar looked horrified as he hefted his mighty sword and, and Harry couldn't believe this, also hefted up a Litany of Imperial teachings, as though he was literally about to preach to the Chaos cultists while cleaving them in half. The Inquisition were all quite insane.
"No, I generally find it unwise to charge straight at guns," Harry snapped before thinking about what he was saying, "I mean..."
"Commander Paget is correct," Luthor grunted as he pointed to their flank, "we lack the long range firepower, quick, advance under cover to the stairs! Go!"


*Wheeeze* Hey, guys, slow down!" The Imperial Agents all lightly sprinted to the safety of the nearby cover, but Pontius Fleek, weighed down by his robes and heavy armaments (and totally boning his advance roll) fails to quite get out of the way.


"Better him than me," Harry winced as he held his helmet to his head and waited for the first wave of Chaos gunfire.


Linda, meanwhile, was practically giggling like a schoolgirl as she muscled forward with the other Acolytes, vying for the right to lead the charge up the steps and straight into the enemy gunline.


"Fools!!!" Achraff Sarraf gloated in that magical way only Chaos adherents could (Harry could swear he could tell the maddened SPace Marine was using multiple exclamation marks) "You have fallen into our trap, exactly as we have planned, did you really think to catch us unaware!?!"
"CHAOS!" The Cultists laughed as they began to unleash waves of fire from their autoguns down towards the Inquisition forces.


Pontius Fleek goes down, the bullets ripping into his mechanical body causing enough damage to remove him from this fight.
So much for my hopes of double flamering a bunch of Cultists.


It is now Turn 2, better see if we can make some real headway.


"All right, let's do this....DOLAAAAAAN HAAAAARNAAAAAAR!"
The priest led the charge, followed in short order by the Crusader, Linda Eppledorfer, Nero Jaxx, and more.


"Fallen battle brothers, testaments to the Traitor Hourus," Shield Captain Val gripped his halberd as he stepped forward and let loose a spray of rounds at the enemy, but the Inquisition shooting is light, and the Chaos forces are mostly unharmed.


Nero Jaxx managed to work his way forward enough to lay down some suppressing fire on a nearby mob of 5 cultists.


With some help from Linda Eppledorfer the cult is thinned out somewhat.


"By the Holy Emperor, how many of them are there?"
The Chaos forces rush forward, eager to cause some more suffering to the interlopers.
"The Red Sisters, by blood we are made holy!" The Sisters lead the way, followed by a fresh swarm of cultists.


Dark sorcery crackles around The Eyes as they advance, unleashing hellish blasts of energy into Dolan Harner.


"Get behind me!" Thelonius raises his storm shield and Dolan activates his rosarius. Linda ducked down amongst the statuary and watched in horror as the enemy Space Marines and their cultist allies began to fire.


Thelonius goes down, bullets punching through his augumated exoskeleton. The other acolytes take a fair share of punishment as well.


"Here they come!" Dolan readied his blade as some of the Cultists decided it was better to charge than to be charged.


"No loyal servant of The Emperor fights alone while a Custodian watches."
Shield-Captain Val steps forward, his massive Guardian spear at the ready as he stood shoulder to shoulder with the battle priest. Linda pulled out her power maul and stepped forward as well, an eager smile on her face. Nero snapped the combat blades into place on his pistols and sprang forward to meet the charge.


Harry Paget was officially within intervention range, but I appropriately declared that he would *not* intervene.


Val Kiel smashed apart a pair of heretics, as Linda and Dolan finished off the remainder, the Imperium now had a firm hold on the top of the stairwell and had breached the first chokepoint.


Turn 3 is here - time to secure the fountain plaza and start trying to get to The Cardinal!


Dolan and Linda charged forward together, looking murderously at The Eyes.
"Foul witch scum," Dolan boomed, "The Emperor offers you the mercy of a quick death!"


"Vail, if you would be so kind as to help me secure the bridge?" Inquisitor Dominatus advanced, readying his wargear as his acolytes spread out to offer support.
Vail nodded, no words needed as he hefted his mighty guardian spear and advanced through the plaza, las fire glancing off his armor in scintillating bursts of color.


"All is dust!" The Thousand Sons readied themselves for their only threat on the battlefield as Vail prepared to fire and charge.


"Apologies milady." Nero smirked as he unloaded his pistols at the Red Sisters, dropping one of them.


Harry offered his usual prayer to The Emperor under his breath "ohcrapohcrapohcrap" as he squeezed off some laspistol rounds in the general direction of the enemy whilst waving his chainsword overhead (the chainsword wave accomplished nothing, but tended to fool people into thinking he was 'rallying the men' or somesuch claptrap)
By some dint of luck (or perhaps The Emperor's guiding hand?) his las bolt somehow found a gap in the heavy armor of a Red Sister, removing her as a threat as she collapsed backwards.


"Excellent work, Paget!" Luthor laughed maniacally as he raised his incinerator and brought cleansing flame to the nearby acolytes, felling most of their squad.


Vail charged forward, meeting his fallen cousins in open battle now that the way had been made clear.


Dolan and Linda also rushed forward, ready to deal with the enemy witches.


"Fool!" The Achraf laughed in dark glee, "you shall find that we are not as easily dispatched as the human meat!"
The Thousand Sons stand firm against the Custodes' charge, managing to find some chinks in his armor even.


The Eyes ready their staves, one of them is promptly picked up by the throat, Dolan laughing at the pitiful swats of fright as he hurled the witch down the stairs to crash wetly upon the stones below.


The Cultists and Thousand Sons press their advantage, Vail now started to find his pace and downed some of the heretics, but under the surge could even The Golden Giant long stand?


The Eyes couldn't hold out, however, as DOlan and Linda each managed to fell one of them, clearing the way to The Cardinal.


Turn 4 is upon us, Chaos' last round was weak, as most of their units were locked in assault, can the Imperium keep up this advantage?


"Faith and fire!" Luthor's incinerator continues to prove its worth as he mows down swathes of cultists with each blast, leaving only burning piles of meat adn fat.


"I see The Cardinal!" With her usual lack of self control, Linda charges forward, waving her power mace wildly as she tries to bash in The Cardinal's face.


"That girl has less self control than a Space Wolf," sighs Vail as he continues his brutal work, having to smash each automaton to pieces before they would stop trying to cut and rend him.


Finally, however, he reaches the sorcerer, and with a sharp stab of his spear ends the threat, the Thousand Sons are destroyed, and now he looks ahead to The Red Sisterhood.


"Chaos shall not threaten the Golden Throne!"


"Foolish girl-childe!" With a wave of his hand The Cardinal sends out a blast of dark energy, sending Linda moaning to the floor even as his bdy began to re-knit the damage she had caused with her power maul. "Know you not that I serve a higher power?"


Dolan is wounded and collapses under a burst of boltgun fire from the Red Sisters.


I don't have much to say about this photo, other than adoring the old GW stuff - seriously, the guy has an exposed brain, how awesome is that?


Vail lifts his spear and charges forward, Nero at his side, pistols blazing, Harry joins too, not so much out of bravery, but figuring that with a Custodes along with them, a three on two battle is pretty damn safe, and it would do well to be seen being part of the final push - especially if said push had him avoid the maniacal sorcerer summoning gawds knows what down by the altar.


The Red Sisters are brought down, and now The Cardinal's defenses are looking very thin indeed.


"Go, all of you, leave this fallen warrior to me, stop the ritual!"
Luthor issues orders, orders - Harry notes darkly - that involve everyone *except* Luthor going to battle the primary threat.
"Bloody Inquisitors..."


Harry makes sure to stand in front of the woman to maintain his reputation as a hero.
he also makes sure to stand behind Vail, to maintain his skin.


The Inquisition is closing in now.


"Let me show you the truth of your heresy."
Luthor deals with the final Red Sister.


"Enough of this!"
Vail raises his Guardian Spear and unleashes a hail of bolter fire that tears through The Cardinal's body.


"We did it, loyal men of The Inquisition!"
Harry waves his chainsword over his head, as one does.

A pretty fun fight, the one thing that became clear was that we gave The Imperium too much time to complete their goal...or maybe needed to give Chaos more points? I would have thought with even points the advance would have been at least somewhat slow, but the Imperium wargear managed to make a big show of quality over quantity.


Chaos MVP
The Red Sisters, by using their pistols and bolters they put a lot of wounds on Vail, as well as helping to fell a few of the Inquisitorial agents throughout the battle. Their ability to generate some extra shots also greatly helped them punch above their weight limit.

Chaos WTF
Not sure here, maybe The Cardinal as he didn't accomplish much? John seemed to think he would have had a more powerful force with just taking more Cultists to try to swamp us, so maybe the Thousand Sons and their ability to absorb points like a black hole is the biggest culprit of their failing.


Imperial MVP
Has to be Vail, though Jake's dice were seemingly obsessed with rolling 1s (Vail was actually down to 1 wound remaining by Turn 3) his move of charging forward and locking down the bridge caused a lot of ability for The Inquisition to advance freely, while removing the ability of a lot of the Chaos forces to really shoot stuff, which greatly dulled their firepower in the late game, while the Imperium seemed to have free reign on theirs.


Imperial WTF

I'm tossing it to Ekatarina, who consistently failed to activate any of her psyker powers. She did a decent job at denying the witch for me, but I wouldn't have minded having some more bang for that buck.

"Well, that's a job well done," offered Harry as he holstered his pistol and glanced around, "can't say I approve of his decorations."

"These are not decorations," said Luthor darkly, "they have a purpose..." Suddenly his eyes widened. "Everyone back to the transports, we need to get to the spaceport and summon troops from the ship immediately!"

"What is it? asked Nero as he gently took hold of Ekatarina's arm to help lead her back up the stairs.

"It was a summoning," she whispered as a shiver ran through her body, "we didn't make it in time to root out the heresy here, they are preparing to bring in daemonic allies - The Cardinal is intending to turn Thysilla into a daemon world in the very heart of the Terran sector!"

"Let's get to the spaceport then, hurry up!"
The hero in Harry made him pick up Linda (though if you were to ask him it was simply because he rather liked having her around to handle a lot of his menial paperwork, but the coward in him easily allowed him to bound up the steps with her as he raced for the transports. A daemon world!?! Screw that for a box of grots, he was damned if he wasn't going to figure out a way to be on the very first shuttle back up to the ship.


=========================================

"You have failed us, Goardon."

The voices caused pain, even as they began to re-stitch his body.

"It is only a setback," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Don't worry."

"Do you think we worry?" Mor epain, almost enough to drive a man mad, but Goradon had worked too hard for this moment.

"No, of course not, but it will be okay - I arranged a little surprise on the road for our dear Inquisitor, he'll be lucky if he lives another hour, much less to make it back to the spaceport."

"Pray that you are right, Goradon, pray."

"I'm done praying," The Cardinal stood up, his reformed body picking up his staff of office as he turned back to the ritual altar and smiled through bloodstained lips. "I've found a new calling."