Belial listened to the shivering Sororitas as she lay on the Medicus table, covered in a thin sheet and with thick cables laying across her frail limbs. The woman had not recovered from her ordeals, trapped and hidden in a ruined monastery on Wiebelich III. Now the information that the Dark Angels had died to recover seemed about to slip from their fingers.
‘… Village of Kossen… Get her out…’
Belial leaned closer. The white haired woman on the table flickered her eyelids and turned to whisper into his ears.
‘There is a holy woman at Kossen. We were going to see. She may be a powerful psyker.’ The woman panted, her breath rattling in her lungs as she spoke. Her eyes came briefly into focus. ‘Where is... Justine?’
Belial assumed she meant the other Sororitas that had been in hiding near the monastery.
‘We couldn’t save her,’ He admitted. He refrained from describing the sight of the other woman being bodily carried into the trees by a horde of leering, screeching cultists.
‘No.’ Machines began whining and chirping as she struggled to lift herself from the bed. ‘Justine knew. Where she is.’
So, a potentially very powerful psyker lived unmonitored in this village. And now the enemy had a captive who knew where to go also. Belial’s blood ran cold.
On the outskirts of Kossen, Yar’Khûl the Apostle of Chaos stood, breathing in the cold air. Smoke drifted from the still groaning buildings. He smiled at the destruction, relishing the work his men had done eliminating resistance here. Now, where was that woman.
He spotted her, crawling through the thick mud of an old trenchline, at the same time as he spotted a strange haze wash over the far side of the field. Striding forward out of the early morning gloom came the immense winged figure of his erstwhile ally Morpheus, accompanied by one of his unctuous sorcerors and the sorceror’s own henchmen. Brightly coloured beasts with long thin limbs began to coalesce around the two.
‘Don’t let them take her,’ yelled Yar’Khûl. ‘The old woman is ours!’
He ran forward, the ornately armoured warriors of his personal guard following. A low hissing began as they powered up the ignitions on the flamers. ‘We will burn them out and then Morpheus will pay for his betrayal.’
The throng of simple minded cultists that had began flocking to Yar’Khûl’s presence clambered over the low lying walls in front of them like a swarm of insects. Yar’Khûl watched as Morpheus leapt into the sky from beyond the broken buildings, fading into the bright light of the sun. As he was looking skyward, he saw shadows spiral in the air, solidifying into deep red fireballs that came crashing to the earth around them. One impacted on the Helbrute that was thumping towards a hill not far in front of Yar’Khûl, and the Apostle frowned as the beast stumbled to one knee before rising and roaring as it continued forward.
‘Shoot him down!’ screamed the Apostle, and he was rewarded with the sight of scores of gun raised to the sky, firing wildly into the air. The bullets filled the sky, darkening the clouds like a swarm of bees. There was a distant screech as Morpheus came plummeting to the ground and awkwardly striking the crest of the hill before standing.
Long legged creatures came galloping through an open field to Yar’Khûl’s right, covering the ground in impossibly fast strides. As he watched, his Obliterators and Vindicator belched gouts of fire and death into the field. After the smoke cleared, the beasts were gone.
As Yar’Khûl turned to his retinue to gloat, there was a thunderclap and a brilliant flare of purple light. When Yar’Khûl turned back to the battle, he saw a towering monster, glowing from brilliant golden lines that traced its flesh, courses of warp lightning flickering around its unnatural muscles. As the Greater Daemon lifted its maw to bellow at the sky, Yar’Khûl cursed. One of his own warriors near the daemon turned and bathed his fellow sqaudmates in flames, while the Obliterators manning a far wall stood still, watching the oncoming daemons with all the focus and murderous ijntent of a pair of staues.
On the hillside immediately before him, the giant Morpheus came crashing into the cultists and Yar’Khûl’s companion. Morpheus took the time to lift one of the cultiss high into the air by his head, then squeezed and popped the man’s skull like a piece of fruit. All the while the other cultists threw stones that bounced from his hide, or stabbed at him inconsequentially. Taking the time to murder one man so thoroughly allowed Yar’Khûl’s fellow lord to step forward and sink his cursed blade into Morpheus’ side, causing the mighty beast to double over in pain before flickering and disappearing into the warp. ‘Coward,’ thought the Apostle.
Daemons surrounded and struck into the Chaos Marines to Yar’Khûl’s right, driving them back from the line of black armoured soldiers. He lifted his massive flamer and shot a gushing river of fire a the daemons, praying to the gods to favour him.
+++
Black Legion Army List:
Chaos Lord with
- the Black Mace and Sigil of Corruption.
Dark Apostle with
- The Burning Brand.
10 Chaos Marines with 2 Plasmaguns, Champion with Boon of Chaos (Shred).
10 Chaos Marines with 2 Flamers, Champion with Boon of Chaos (Shrouded).
30 Cultists with 2 Flamers.
10 Cultists.
7 Chosen with 4 Flamers, Champion with Boon of Chaos, Icon of Vengence (Hatred).
Helbrute with Reaper Autocannon and Powerfist.
Helbrute with Multimelta and Heavy Flamer mounted on Powerfist.
2 Obliterators.
Possesed Vindicator with Siege Shield.
Slaanesh Daemons Army List:
Aggelos, Keeper of Secrets with
- 3 Psyker Levels (Cacophonic Choir, Psychic Shriek, Dominate)
- 2 Greater and 1 Lesser Reward (Corpulescent, Touch of Uncreation, Warp Strider)
Krazda, Herald of Slaanesh with
- 2 Psyker Levels (Lash of Slaanesh, Hallucinations)
- 1 Lesser Reward (Etherblade) and the Exalted Locus of Beguilement
Diabolla, Herald of Slaanesh with
- 2 Psyker Levels (Cacophonic Choir, Puppet Master)
- 1 Lesser Reward (Etherblade) and the Exalted Locus of Beguilement
14 Daemonettes with Instrument, Rapturous Standard and Lesser Reward (Cleaving Strike).
15 Daemonettes with Instrument, Rapturous Standard and Lesser Reward (Corrosive Breath).
8 Seekers with Instrument, Rapturous Standard and Lesser Reward (Etherblade).
Morpheus, Daemon Prince of Slaanesh with
- Warp Armour, Wings
- 2 Psyker Levels (Acquiescence, Psychic Shriek)
- 1 Exalted and 1 Greater Reward (Wind of Chaos, Hellfire Gaze)
Phantasus, Allied Chaos Sorceror with
- 1 Psyker Level (Hysterical Frenzy) and the Aura of Dark Glory.
10 Allied Cultists.
Warlord Traits:
Black Legion: Soul Blaze
Slaanesh Daemons: Lord of Unreality
Deployment Map:
The First Turns will follow shortly.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Turn One:
The Daemons moved as far forward as they could. The Seekers moved through the forest, veering to avoid the Vindicator if possible, but losing one to Dangerous Terrain. Being used to the armour of bikers protecting them as they blast through terrain, I probably shouldn’t have sent them through here, but rolling three one’s for seven models was a bit extreme. The Warpstorm brought the Wrath of Khorne to the table, doing a little damage to the Black Legion, but also landing amidst my Slaanesh Daemons. Thankfully, none of mine were hurt.
The Black Legion moved their hordes forward and managed to bring down my zooming Daemon Prince, wipe out the Seekers squad and land a Demolisher shot among my larger squad of Daemonettes. I was thrilled that he got seven hits, but only wounded three, and then I saved all of them!
Turn Two:
My Keeper of Secrets arrived, landing right in front of my larger Dameonette unit, facing down the Obliterators and Vindicator. Then came my psychic powers, in range for the first time. I Dominated the Obliterators (and now realise that I should not have been able to do that, as the psyker wasn’t on the board at the beginning of the movement phase…); Hallucinated the Flamer squad, leaving them standing befuddled and unable to react; Asquiscienced the Chaos Lord and his Cultists and Frenzied the smaller Daemonette squad, granting them an extra attack.
In the shooting phase I gained +1 to my Daemon saves and cast Puppet Master on the Flamer squad, scorching their own unit.
Morpheus assaulted the Chaos Lord’s cultists and the frenzied Daemonettes assaulted the Flamer squad. The Cultist Champion challenged my Daemon Prince, which was amusing, but given his four rerolls for Morale Support and the wounds already inflicted on Morpheus from the last round’s shooting, he nearly won the combat! Assaulting through difficult terrain is not useful! Diabolla’s Daemonettes killed three of the Flamer squad and broke them, but didn’t manage to sweeping advance (we decided that their initiative was 1 for the
SA given that I had assaulted through difficult terrain here also).
Then the Black Legion moved up. The Helbrute and Plasmagun squad moved up behind my Daemon Prince as he was stuck in combat, and the Vindicator moved up for a better firing angle. The Burning Brand and regrouped Flamer squad laid some serious hurt on Diabolla’s Daemonettes. Thankfully the Dominated Obliterators failed their
Ld check and couldn’t shoot. Then his second Helbrute charged my Keeper of Secrets, who Smashed the heck out of the Helbrute before it could even try to hurt him. The Chaos Lord stepped up and Black Maced my Daemon Prince to death.
+++
Yar’Khûl watched the daemons crawling around the battlefield and sneered. His minions were clearly too much for Morpheus’ weak beasts of the warp. Far along the battleline, a gigantic multi-armed daemon was throwing cowled cultists through the air. It’s gleeful cackling soured Yar’Khûl’s mood. Beyond the towering Daemon, flames burst and licked across the battlefield, incinerating more of the daemons.
‘Take it down,’ he yelled to the Champion striding across the hill, covered in the ichor of Morpheus’ defeat. The champion turned to look at Yar’Khûl, as the obsequious cultists gathered by his feet. Within seconds the horde had turned on each other, a strange light shining in their eyes as they sank knives and axes into one another. Yar’Khûl couldn’t believe what he was seeing. High on the crest of the hill, red taloned daemons crawled across the surface of a Helbrute.
Yar’Khûl invoked the dark powers and gestured towards his Champion. The man shook his head and threw aside some of the cultists that were still trying to attack him with their pitiful daggers. Then, lifting his glowing weapon over his head, he lead the cultists in a bellowing charge at the daemons on the hill. Yar’Khûl smiled as the lithe creatures fell one by one until the Black Legion stood atop the hill.
The giant Daemon turned from the Legion controlled hillside and ran over to the Vindicator, sinking its man-length talons deep into the side of the armour and lifting, its strange muscles bunching as it turned the tank onto its side. Nearby, a group of purple daemons scampered through the Black Legion lines, leaving a pile of black armoured dead in their wake.
In the trenchlines before Yar’Khûl, a small group of cultists obeyed one of Morpheus’ pet sorcerers and began running through the thick mud towards the Black Legion champion. Tracer rounds filled the air and left the Sorceror standing alone in in the trenchline, with one arm around the unconscious woman they were searching for. Yar’Khûl’s Champion pointed his sword at the Sorceror and strode forward, only for the Sorcerer to ram his own weapon into the Black armoured warrior’s helmet, sending a spray of blood across the mud.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Turn Three:
I managed to cast Hallucinations on the Chaos Lord and his cultists, killing six! My Keeper charged the small cultist unit in front of the Obliterators, along with a unit of Daemonettes. The Cultist Champion did manage to kill the Alluress in his Challenge, but then the Cultists broke and had to roll a Sweeping advance versus my Initiative 10 Keeper…
However, in his turn, the Chaos Marines opened fire with multitudes of flamers and wiped out most of my Daemonettes. Then his Lord charged into my Daemonettes fighting his Helbrute and killed off the last of them.
Turn Four:
I managed to Dominate the Obliterators again. My Keeper charged the Vindicator and blew it up easily. My Sorcerer managed to finally crawl through the trenches far enough to claim the Relic. Then I tried to charge the Chaos Lord’s cultists with my own, dying horribly to Overwatch and therefore failing the charge… Poor decision. I also managed to kill off a Chaos Marine squad and consolidate some Daemonettes into his deployment zone!
But then he shot that unit to death with his Chosen. Thankfully, my Sorceror managed to kill his Lord in the following inevitable challenge.
Turn Five:
My Keeper moved up to stand near my Sorcerer. If I’ve explained this report correctly, and you’ve been keeping track, these are the only models I have left on the board… I dominated the Obliterators.
All the Black Legion stepped up. All the Black Legion fired. All the Daemons were dead.
+++
Yar’Khûl surveyed the blood spattered battlefield. Smoke drifted in a haze above the bodies of his men, swirling into formless faces and creatures. After the actual onslaught of the warp beasts they had faced, even the cowardly cultists that followed the Chaos favoured Apostle showed no fear.
The old woman was still unconscious as Yar’Khûl walked to stand above her.
‘With this woman’s ability,’ he thought to himself. ‘I can bring this world into the depths of terror.’
Wiebelich III rang to the laughter of the Bearer .
+++
Random Game Length:
One Side Tabled.
Victory Points:
Daemons Tabled
Winner: Black Legion
