Welcome to game 10 in our ongoing campaign. Following the Photobucket debacle (the reason for the earlier false start on this report), I’m now hosting my photos on Dakka. Unfortunately, the photos
in all my old reports are gone and I don’t know if I’ll ever find the time to re-do them all. Such is life - onwards with the new reports!
This battle, the defenders of Ameti Hive are falling back to defensive positions to throw back the chaos uprising.
A delaying force is deployed to slow down the chaos advance and give the Imperial forces time to prepare their defences.
If the chaos armies break through, they wall fall upon an unprepared foe….
The situation – The delaying force has spread out across a critical sector with the aim of slowing the chaos assault. If they hold, the main Imperial force can dig in and hopefully defend the rest of the hive.
The chaos forces have mustered a horde of screaming cultists and renegade militia to deal a knock-out blow to the hated Imperials.
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Phineas peered through the blown-out window across the ruined administratum block. He was getting very tired of retreating. It would be good to give the enemy a bloody nose – assuming they could hold them of course.
Arrayed to either side of his elevated position, Phineas could see the Ranger and Krieg units dug in to the ruins. The Krieg commander, Marshall Vosk, was preparing the main defences at the Grand Basilica a few miles behind him.
The longer they held the heretics here, the better the position would be at the main defence line.
With Vosk to the rear, the guard units were commanded by the sinister Colonel Mordant. Even by Krieg standards he was an intimidating officer. Tall, almost skeletally thin and with a rasping voice, Mordant cut an imposing figure.
Still, as far as Phineas was concerned, as long as he scared the heretics, well….
Waiting really was the worst part of war Phineas mused. He decided to lighten the mood.
“first man to bag 20 traitors gets an extra months pay!” he announced jovially. Heads turned and grins showed under helmets as nearby guardsmen heard the offer.
Phineas kept a large smile on his face to show the troops all was well. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the auspex held up by his adjutant, showing the expected chaos line of attack.
A large green mas on the screen showed the advancing heretic forces. By the Emperor, there really were a lot of the buggers heading their way….
He raised his voice once more, hoping he could inject just the right amount of confidence in it.
“Good news men – plenty of heretics for everyone!”
The smattering of answering cheers died out as the first wave of renegade attackers came into view…
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The field of battle
The first wave approaches the defenders
Krieg and Ranger units open fire
The cultists in the first wave charge into a storm of fire
The Krieg fire and reload with machine-like discipline
“Like I said men – plenty for everyone!’
Engineers prepare to repel the horde
Col. Mordant calmly fires his plasma pistol at the enemy as he directs the fire of his units
Heavy weapons take a fearsome toll on the attackers
But for every cultist that falls, another eagerly takes his place
Phineas and his retinue add their firepower
Heedless of their losses, the cultists come on
And following them, elite militia units
And then, with a horribly familiar surge of warp energy, the ground in front of defenders heaves and the newly dead rise again….
All across the defensive front, plague zombies are animated by some fell force
Emboldened by the sudden undead assault, the cultists surge forwards
Plague Zombies stumble towards the defenders, lasguns making little impact on their necrotic flesh
Taking advantage of the distraction, cultists close in and charge the right flank
The Engineers are overrun as the right flank comes under intense pressure
On the left, Rangers fight off and break a determined attack
A Krieg unit is not so lucky and is assaulted by the zombies
…and quickly torn apart…
The Rangers on the left flank repulse the cultist attack, sending the heretics fleeing back into the ruins
Rangers and Krieg concentrate their fire to wipe out a mob of zombies (man, these things are hard to kill!)
Renegade militia move up, but the broken cultists units fleeing through their lines slow them down
Grenadiers and Rangers use massed flamers to wipe out another zombie penetration of their lines
Gorosh whips his forces forwards
“Move up! Don’t give them time to recover!!”
But the militia units have ended up too far back. The defenders have done enough to delay the chaos advance. The order is given to break contact and head for the prepared defences
Col. Mordant overseas the withdrawal to ensure his force is kept intact. Every man will be needed to main the main defence line. Once they take up position at the Grand Basilica, retreat will not be an option. They will stand and defeat the enemy there, or they will die…
The Imperial delaying force has held the enemy and withdrawn successfully – victory!
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Phineas slumped into the canvas field chair hurriedly set up by his adjutant and wiped the sweat off his face. The tent he sat in was part of the defenses thrown up around the Grand Basilica as he and his force slowed the chaos attack.
He felt like he had run across the whole breadth of the hive as they pulled back to the to the main defence line.
All around, hundreds of guardsmen, arbites and PDF troops were stacking ammunition and putting the final touches on their defensive positions.
The tent flap was pulled aside and Marshall Vosk strode in. He snapped a salute to Phineas and gave his report.
“My Lord, the main defensive line is ready for action. Thanks to your heroic delaying action, we have had time to muster the greater part of our forces in Ameti Hive. We stand ready to destroy the enemy in detail”
Phineas marvelled at the Marshal’s ability to make even a report sound like an order. He wished he could bottle the man’s voice control.
For a moment, the Marshall hesitated and looked uncertain, a very unusual state for him Phineas noted. Eventually he cleared his throat and went on.
“My Lord, there is one more thing. We have received…reinforcements”
That pause again…
“Reinforcements?” enquired Phineas “I thought we had accounted for all operational guard regiments within the hive?”
Vosk brushed an imaginary piece of lint from his officers sash “Yes my Lord, all guard regiments….”
Before he could say more, the tent flap was again thrown open, this time by an opulently dressed man with the most extraordinary headgear towering above him. The headgear was, Phineas noted, on fire.
“Praise Him!” the newcomer boomed “He has delivered us from damnation!!”
Phineas managed to close has now gaping mouth with a conscious effort.
The church, it appeared, had arrived.
“Verily!” bellowed the, as yet, unidentified priest “Praise the immortal Emperor of mankind!!” by this time spittle was flying from the man’s mouth and coming dangerously close to Marshall Vosk.
“We come with holy fire, faith and zeal to purge the unbeliever, the heretic, the mutant and the abomination!!!”
“Oh good” Phineas managed, in the absence of anything better to say.
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Next game – want to see what an apocalypse infantry battle with a few hundred painted figures looks like?
Join us…
