Welcome to game 34 in our ongoing campaign.
This is the second part of a three-battle operation to break through the outer defences surrounding the fallen hive of Erd. In part 1, the 681st Krieg Assault Regiment fought their way into the first line of Renegade trenches, seizing them for the next phase of the attack.
Both sides have brought forward reinforcements and the battle starts with the Krieg launching their assault from the captured trenches against the next line of defence. Units, such as the Hades assault drills that advanced further in the last game, will start within the enemy lines.
The terrain is unchanged from the first battle, with the exception of some destroyed bunkers, representing damage from the last game. The Krieg objective is simple – drive through the next line of defences to set up a final assault on the promethium refinery beyond, breaking the defence ring and seizing vital supplies. The Renegades meanwhile, exist only to serve their dark masters…
Previous games in this campaign can be found here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Gordy2000%27s_Battle_Reports
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Through rain, mud and sporadic mortar fire, the Krieg guardsmen had dragged their mortars and heavy weapons forward, positioning them in the captured trench line and revetments of the recently routed enemy. From their new positions they could see the enemy bringing up their own troops, their indistinct shapes moving in the mist beyond the trenches.
The Krieg were no stranger to this sort of bleak, attritional warfare. Silently they lined the trenches and fixed bayonets as the appointed hour of their next assault approached. Officers, NCOs and preachers move through the lines, checking weapons, equipment and the state of their souls.
In the pre-dawn gloom, a single star shell arced overhead. Immediately after came the familiar blast of whistles up and down the trench. The Krieg moved forwards as one, climbing swiftly as they ascended the trench wall.
With a cry of “For the Emperor’ that rippled up and down the line, the guardsmen went over the top and into the storm that awaited them.
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The field of battle
The 681st prepare to launch the next phase of their assault, the forward renegade defenders a mere stone’s throw away.
Heavy weapons repositioned into the trenches begin a preliminary bombardment
The defenders hunker down and prepare to repel the imperials
Heavy weapons and elite infantry await the Krieg advance
Grenadiers who advanced the farthest in the last battle find themselves already amongst the enemy
Layered defences look to extract a steep toll on the attackers
Advance!
Krieg infantry and tanks surge forwards
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Engineers tackle a renegade fighting position
Next to them, infantry squads assault another bastion
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Tanks and transports move up in support
The forward grenadier unit assaults a bunker complex
The first defence guns are blasted away by the Krieg tanks
Renegade defenders are swept from the ramparts by the assault troops
The Hades begins to grind through a heavy weapons bunker
The engineers assault the first fighting position
As do the infantry
The engineers wipe out the defenders – but what new devilry is this!? As the last traitor falls his body distends, splits and a vile spawn erupts amongst the Krieg
The grenadiers meanwhile find themselves hard pressed against the bunker line, defended by elite troops and
HQ units.
The Spawn hammers the engineers
Quad launchers keep up the pressure on the rear defenders
A missile strike knocks out a Chimera
The infamous Colonel Farid is spotted battling the grenadiers
The assault troops struggle to clear the initial defences
The two sides hack at each other over the ruined wall between the bunkers
Another spawn, birthed from another wiped out cultist mob, surges into the Krieg rear, wiping out a quad launcher team
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Krieg armour continues to engage the heavy weapons emplacements
More of which are wrecked
The heavy hitter moves up…
...and knocks out another gun
The guardsmen continue to battle the cultists
‘Wait, what’s that thing?’ final words of a renegade grenadier before he and his squad are blown to bits by a cyclops demo vehicle
The grenadiers have inflicted high casualties on the renegade elite detachment, but their numbers are whittled away…
The last engineer continues to resist the monstrous spawn, but finally falls to the beast
In the rear, the rampaging spawn behind the lines tears into a heavy weapons team
The Krieg assaulting the second bastion finally overcome the cultists, only for yet another spawn to erupt from their corpses
The state of the advance – armour moves up while the infantry is getting bogged down
The mortars keep up the rate of fire
Another cultist squad and heavy weapon are wiped out by the constant barrage. leaving just craters
The rampaging spawn spies an altogether more enticing target – Marshall Voss himself, the Krieg CO!
The Hellhound does a drive-by flaming of the comms bunker, frying the defenders
Amongst the defenders line, the last grenadiers finally fall, with the Hades drill continuing on for a few more moments before being destroyed. But the heavy weapons bunker has been silenced and the
HQ unit badly mauled
The spawn that slew the engineers has little time to savour its victory, as a passing leman Russ delivers a battle cannon round to its face (or where its face should be)
The Krieg infantry squad fighting the third spawn break and flee the field. The creature’s success is also short lived, being gunned down by heavy weapons moments later.
Ogryn surprise! The least surprising defenders in the battle appear from the burning comms bunker and charge the Hellhound
The rampaging spawn roars its challenge, but Marshall Voss is made of sterner stuff – he fires a plasma shot into the creature, before dashing forward and slaying the beast with his power sword.
The Ogryn trash the Hellhound
The state of the battle – the Krieg have cleared the next line of defences and driven into the bunkers beyond
Seeing their front collapse, the remaining renegades begin to pull back to their final lines of defence as the Krieg armour closes in
Imperial victory!
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Another tough fight for the Krieg, but in the end they battled their way through the next line of defences despite some serious infantry losses. Nice to see Marshall Voss getting into the action as well!
The surprise spawn was a nice touch by the
DM (they appeared on a 4+ for every cultist squad wiped out) and they did a lot of damage to the assault teams. The grenadier’s fought bravely but were finally overcome. They did however tie up a lot of enemy resources for nearly the entire game. Once the two initial positions were cleared and the tanks moved up, the renegade position became untenable.
Next battle, the whole map moves up so the start line will be where this battle ended. More importantly, the promethium refinery will now be on the table, giving an ultimate objective for the operation.
But the ruinous powers have been watching, and they are unlikely to give up such a prize easily. Who knows what horrors they will bring to the next battle…
