The Triskelion War: Game 11 – Battle for the Basilica; Hundreds of painted Figs, lots of pix
Welcome to game 11 in our ongoing (and occasional) campaign. Following a series of major offensive pushes, the Chaos insurrection is poised for a final assault on the Ameti Hive Grand Basilica,
a critical target of both strategic and psychological value. The Imperium meanwhile, has mustered is forces and plans to smash the Chaos attack and re-take the initiative.
Whoever wins will take a significant advantage in the war and the loser may well be expelled from Ameti Hive altogether.
With the battle lines drawn, both sides prepare for the defining battle of the early war.
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Phineas adjusted his combat suit and adjusted his bionic eye focal length. The noise of the mobilising imperial troops provided a welcome relief to the infernal chanting rising form the enemy battle line
that had been going on all night. Well, they would show those heretic dogs who was in charge today, oh yes. This damned uprising was going to be stamped out once and for all, following which the
Imperial forces would march on the remaining planetary hives to ensure they too were relived form the perfidious enemy.
As he was putting on his digital weapons, his arbites liaison swung through the door of his field-hab
“My Lord, reports from the forward pickets on enemy movements. Marshall Vosk believes the enemy attack is imminent and recommends taking the initiative”
Phineas pushed out his chest and squared his shoulders.
“My compliments to the Marshall – tell him to proceed with the attack immediately – today we strike a blow for the Imperium, for Triskelion and for Ameti! Lead on my good Arbiter!”
With the black-clad enforcer before him, Phineas marched out of his tent and to the prepared jump-off position for the upcoming assault. All around him officers and sergeants bellowed
orders as guardsmen ran to their own assault points. Phineas climbed onto a small pile of rubble and looked towards the badly bombed-out basilica that was the focus of both forces.
As he watched, from out of the early morning gloom came the enemy. Mobs of degenerate infantry and mutants surged towards the basilica, backed up by heavy weapons and enormous
things that may once of been Ogryns.
“So many…” he breathed as he watched the tide of the lost and the damned spill forth. Just then, a flare rose skywards from the Imperial line. Marshall Vosk had given the signal – immediate attack.
With a roar the Imperial forces rose from their positions and charged towards the basilica – the race for the heart of Ameti was on. No more retreating, no more defending. Now was do, or die.
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The field, with the basilica in the centre
Pre-deployment…
…and post deployment (yes, that’s a lot of figures)
Imperial left flank – Phineas and retinue can be seen on the ground floor of the circular building
And the right
Chaos Ogryn and a landcrawler on the right
centre
And left
Heavy weapons and more Orgyn shock troops anchor the centre
Mobs of armed civilians have infiltrated the Basilica overnight
Slanneshi Cultists on the right
Krieg Grenadiers await the order to advance
Marshall Vosk and multiple weapons look to refuse the right flank
The imperial force includes Antipodean Rangers,
Krieg assault infantry
The Church
Phineas, retinue and PDF
And the Arbites
They face the archenemy forces of plague zombies,
Renegade militia
Armed civilians
And cultists
Advance! The Imperium moves forwards
Heavy weapons provide covering fire
Battle lines converge
Faith and fury
Forward units move up and engage the enemy. Priority is given to cleaning out the infiltration mobs in the basilica
Zealous fanatics reach the outbuildings first
Krieg and Ranger units inter-mingle as they dash forwards
Gorash the Scourged, Renegade commander, orders his militia forwards
Repentia and Krieg move up
Imperial Heavy weapons take out the only renegade vehicle
Chaos mobs move into close range
For the holy church!
Arbites hold the left flank in the face of a cultist wave
Undaunted by their losses, the cultist waves seem unending…
The Chaos assault reaches the edge of the Basilica as the civilian mobs are pushed back by Imperial fire
Gorash and his troops move into cover and engage the approaching Imperial infantry
Here come the ladies…
Col. Mordant leads his forces into the basilica as both sides take casualties crossing the open ground
The Repentia clean out a few sinners
Abhumans stalk the field
The civilian mobs rally as their masters approach and engage the church
Krieg and ranger units hammer the renegades with close range las-fire
Return fire fells half a squad of rangers
Krieg infantry breaches the outer basilica wall and finish off any skulking infiltrators
Rapid fire!!!
Arbiters form a wall to break the first cultist wave
The state of the forces
The Slanneshi cultists are caught in the open and decimated by the Rangers disciplined fire
Ogryns and cultists push towards Marshall Vosk’s redoubt under punishing fire
The Arbites shotguns and flamers repel the initial cultist mobs
The beaten zone in front of the right flank redoubt claims many a renegade
Plenty more heretics where those came from…
The Chaos Gods favour their fallen – from the ruins of the Slaanesh cultists a Spawn emerges
The Grenadiers continue to wait for the right moment to advance towards the Ogryn Berserkers…
Shield wall
With their front ranks depleted, the next chaos wave breaks across the basilica
Rangers continue to punish the heretics with salvos of fire
Faith meets the power of the warp - zombies and church militia do battle
Repentia wet their chain blades
Zombies prove no match for fury – now you see them…
Now, not so much…
Arbites line up their next victims – but miss the flamer on their flank…
The renegade assault on the right is bogging down, but help is on the way
The Spawn crashes into the Imperial line
It is eventually brought down by a forest of bayonets, but mutants exploit the gap and the firing line is breached
Beastmen seize the chance and occupy the basilica annex
Gorash, his supporting squad gunned down or fled, is caught between cover by the Krieg and Ranger line and the leader of the Ameti Hive heretic uprising is felled by massed las-fire
Col. Mordant and his troops breach the central Basilica
Supported by Engineers and Rangers
The Chaos right flank attack has been badly mauled
The heretics quickly counter attack in the centre with Khornate cultists assaulting the Basilica
Backed up by more warp-birthed Spawn
Col. Mordant and his commend squad fight for their lives against mutated guardsmen
Renegade Ogryn crash into the church militia
Who get their zeal punched out of them in short order
Meanwhile, on the left, the Arbites move up to clear out the cultists marshalling for another attack
Phineas himself (with retinue in tow) moves up
As do the grenadiers (finally)
The Imperium is winning the firefight on the right
But the battle will be decided in the central basilica and both sides throw their best units into it
The High Ecclesiarch himself enters the fray
Unable to contain the Ogryns, the church militia flee!
Chaos MVP – three Arbites squads flamed by one cultist
In the central Basilica, Col. Mordant and his squad are charged by no less than 3 Spawn. The Col. Is badly wounded and carried from the field
The battle in the balance – with Khorne cultists and Spawn in the central basilica, things look bad for the Imperials
The Redeemer himself (and friends) take care of the Ogryn and chaos command unit
The Penitent Engines continue to fail to contact the enemy…
Krieg and Rangers focus all fire on the Khorne Cultists, wiping them out
In a heroic display, the Krieg infantry manage to fell the Spawn and clear the central Basilica
Across the field, the renegade forces have been repelled or wiped out
Left
Centre
Right
The enemy is broken – the day is ours!
To the victor, the honour – the Grand Basilica is secured and the renegade forces defeated
Praise the Emperor – the High Ecclesiarch gives thanks in the newly secured Basilica
Victory Imperium!
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Well, that was some battle. I’m not sure how many hundred figures we used, but it was a lot. Some turns we almost needed a broom to deal with all the casualties.
Looking at the photos the battle looked quite static, which it wasn’t to play. Lots of thrusts and counter thrusts, desperate stands and acts of individual heroism.
It takes a lot to organise a battle this size, but it is well worth the effort.
With the Basilica secured, the Imperium can now go on the offensive. Some work has to be done to clean out heretic pockets of resistance (see next battle),
but the war is now entering a new phase as it moves beyond Ameti hive…
…airborne assaults, armoured warfare, space battles, boarding actions, oh my!
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Phineas stood atop the Basilica antechamber and watched the High Ecclesiarch depart after his sermon to the victorious troops.
The church would be well pleased with the victory today. He had to admit, despite their appearance, the church troops could certainly fight.
Phineas was just happy they had triumphed and that his city was on the way back to some sort of normalcy.
Beside him Marshall Vosk adjusted his officers sash and turned to leave. Phineas called after him.
“A good show today Marshall. We’ve got those heretics on the run now I should think”
Vosk stopped and fixed Governor Phineas with the cold stare of his gasmask lenses.
“The battle for Ameti is over indeed Governor. The war for Triskelion is just beginning’
The Marshall snapped a salute and departed, leaving Phineas with his thoughts.
Well, hopefully someone else could do a bit of fighting now for a change…
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Next battle – Run them Down! The Imperium is out for revenge as Chaos retreats from Ameti Hive
