Back with a vengeance, baby!
The sixth installment of the Kriegsspielmageddon campaign for Selen II's freedom is here with more of everything! More players, more troops, more carnage and laughter of thirsting gods in the grim darkness of the far future. This time it's another pair of extra hands on deck as two more join the ranks for this bout of multiplayer madness with
six belligerents. The game took about five real life days to complete as secret messages flew across the waves and updated maps were constantly drawn by the referee for the players fumbling in the everpresent fog of war. Using Epic: Armageddon as a basis for the rulings, both sides comprise of some 10,000 points per.
(This report uses googled art, mostly GW. If I've failed to source yours please do say so! The map foundation is by the inimitable Dyson Logos, available for free use.)
The Battle for Taranus Populus
The Imperial assault on Selen II has now continued for a good while, with Krieg's heavy Gorgon spearheads pushing forth like an unstoppable wall of steel. Behind them, they leave vast swathes of land that still needs to be secured by slower infantry forces as enemy pockets are left cauldroned in the wake of the main advance. Taranus Populus is a riverside settlement with extensive agricultural fields and research facilities, being home to some thousands of citizens. At its heart stand the indomitable fortifications of Fort Firmus, a refuge for the beleaguered population slowly crushed under the iron-shod boot of the Imperial armies invading their lands. This time, the sturdy walls of Fort Firmus also house a battallion of Selenite combat engineers, desperately dug in to hold out against the encircling force of Krige artillery, likewise determined to pin them in and grind them to dust. Unbeknownst to both parties, there are other forces on the move as well: a force of fierce Crimson Fist space marines has landed planetside with a mechanised column to show the Black Templar fleet present how this war thing is actually done, while two mechanised PDF battallions of the 4th Home Army are racing to lift the siege and rescue their engineer brothers from the Imperials' grasp. Watching all of this from the orbit, the Black Templars of the Benith Flotilla are eager to join the fray, both to snub the other sons of Dorn as well as to atone for their previous failure on the Kheyus Isle.
Blood shall be spilled on this day. Can Fort Firmus hold or are the brave engineers doomed as cannons are pulled into position, munition piles checked once more and men in their trenches wait for the whistle to signal the final assault?
Overview of the map:
For the Epic enthusiasts following along, one hex maps to roughly 15 cm of tabletop distance.
Deeper Imperial lines extend to the North and somewhat into the South beyond the map, where the main Selenite lines are located. Here we can see the fortified centre of the defenders, dotted with bunkers, earthworks, minefields and razor wires of various kinds. The crucial logistics area with its resources cannot be given up, if the area is to operate and grow any crops in the near future. The defenders are, however, badly pincered between the Krieg lines to the South and Northwest, having lost the Heroes' Bridge as their southern artery of supplies. Their secret underground tunnel across the mighty river Bruzeh still works, though it isn't much use for transporting any heavy equipment. Another heavy blow against the defenders is the loss of the Comms Station and any long range signalling capacity they might have had with the wider war effort (the engineer commander could not communicate with their team mates until a contact of some sort was to be established) as the invaders flooded the waves with massed electronic jamming. In the swampy woodlands of the eastern and southwestern portions of the map we see Charnel Hill and Glade of the Ancients, both shunned and supposedly haunted sites of long-forgotten eras, full of rusty tech-relics and danger. In the contested zones, we also have the Cape of Enlightenment, housing the spiritual heart and temples of the local populace, as well as the northern bio-labs full of highly dangerous pathogens should they come under careless fire in the hostilities.
(The encircled engineer commander had to make their defenceworks first, before the Krieg commander got to see what they were working with to organise their own siegelines against any attacking relief forces. Others worked on their understanding of the territory as they gained intel either by advancing or communicating with other forces. Sometimes even their opponents!)
Dramatis Personae:
Beyond the main question of can the Selenites kick the Imperials off, save Fort Firmus and break the siege, every player has a secret set of ~6 objectives to direct their interests and possibly cause some friction with their allied forces should those interests overlap. While a side will win as a whole, naturally the player who best fulfills their list shall be crowned the best commander of the lot.
Major Štefan Escamilla, the engineer commander, is fairly sure that everything is in control and there is no reason to panic as the Krieg guns are raised to position.
OBJECTIVES:
- Survive alive and Firmus in your control. The city shall not be given up.
- Evacuate civilians to the South should the opportunity arise.
- Logistics area shall not be given up to anyone, not even allies. They'll just suck the fuel and sod off, leaving the locals dry.
- Heroes' Bridge must be intact and in control by the end.
- Cape of Enlightenment must be held.
- Destruction of the Bio-labs must be prevented or at least contained immediately should it happen.
Lt. colonel (res) Soriano, commander of the jaegers, a religious man drawn back to the war by the invasion after serving in the Imperial Guard for many long years. Torn over his faith in the righteousness of the Imperial Creed and love for his home.
OBJECTIVES:
- The encirclement must be broken.
- Cape of Enlightenment must be held.
- Charnel Hill must be secured. There's esoteric stuff there and we can't let the enemy play as they like with it.
- Northern road above river Rados must be taken to cut enemy supply lines.
- The spiritual state of one's allies must be ascertained. Are we the baddies?
- Techno wants the Bio-labs secured.
Cpt. Kairos, a young and ambitious armoured commander, racing to save his comrades with a sudden fury of a tank charge. Given the opportunity to lead this mission, his choice of words was "swampland? Give me what SPG's you can spare and we'll turn any terrain to a moonscape regardless."
OBJECTIVES:
- Heroes' Bridge must be taken intact. There will be no further counteroffensive in time if the route is cut.
- Comms Station must be taken to reinstate proper communications.
- Logistics area must be taken to ensure further offensive in the North, locals' needs be damned.
- The encirclement must be broken.
- Bridge over river Plentos must be taken or blown up to cut enemy supplies.
- Armoured losses to be minimized for further offensives to carry on.
Lord-Commissar Krampf, sat observing the situation from the orbit, has once again found himself as the only adult in the room simply trying to conduct a normal, honest war effort without having all of his eager Kriegsmen jumping to their deaths futilely while negotiating with two Astartes forces that regard each other as the dumb sons of Dorn and refuse to talk to each other directly. This will surely not cause any issues on the field.
OBJECTIVES:
- Fort Firmus and its defenders will be erased. It'd be embarrassing to not get one single encircled detachment of enemies done and dealt with.
- Comms Station will be held onto.
- Supply routes to West and North must be kept open.
- Heroes' Bridge will be either held or destroyed to keep the enemy from having access to their Southern lines.
- Logistics area must be taken. Best fuel is free fuel.
- Southern silos must be taken to feed the troops.
Castellan Gaius Albert XI leads his men on their quest for penance after the previous failure, having granted vt srg. Meier the honour of wielding the Black Sword to the Fort.
OBJECTIVES:
- Fort Firmus must fall and the black cross be unhurled on its ramparts before anyone else. For Dorn!
- Cape of Enlightenment and its heretical temples must be razed.
- Previous razing and any leaders' executions therein should be broadcast from the Comms Station to cower the local populace.
- False progress of the Bio-labs ought to be destroyed.
- The gruesome ritual activity at Charnel Hill ought to be destroyed.
- Krieg lines must hold, enemy mustn't get to open a line to the South.
Cpt Aaron Galán's troops thunder down the road to finish this pitiful clown show. What have these fools even been doing here thus far, as if putting down a rebellion is hard or something?
OBJECTIVES:
- Fort Firmus must fall and the crimson fist be unfurled on its ramparts before anyone else. For Dorn!
- Logistics area must be taken.
- Charnel Hill must be taken and pacified.
- Northern road above river Rados must be held open for supply lines.
- Cape of Enlightenment must be taken in captivity and the local leaders therein changed to a puppet government.
- Bio-labs are to be taken and carried home for the apothecarion's boys to study.
*********************
Major Plamodon, field commander of the Death Korps' 6th artillery battallion, surveyed the peninsula in front of him as the noon wore on. A couple of Black Templars' speeders were lazily hovering nearby, keeping a touch on the pulse of the war effort on the ground. The rebel forces had managed a fighting retreat in good order and fortified themselves into a solid defensive position. Clearing an urban area, undoubtedly filled with mines and booby traps, while bombarded by the heavy guns of the fort, would be an arduous and costly effort in the best of cases. Then again, his men were all too ready for such actions and the enemy wasn't going anywhere in a hurry, hemmed in by the rivers in their pesky little bunker with all their communications jammed to hell. Give me a week and plentiful ammunition and I'll see them all ground to dust, he thought proudly as soldiers grunted nearby, pushing a Medusa platform into position through the crater-pocked mud that once was a bountiful field. Sure, the enemy still fought back and held their positions doggedly, but what were occasional casualties in the grand scheme of things? Was it not the ultimate wish of every Krieger to eventually fall in the Emperor's service, particularly one such as this where they themselves were returning a lost lamb back to the Imperium's warm embrace?
As his thoughts wandered, a servoskull floated to his command post bringing news from the e-war team. What's this, intercepted radio chatter? Before the major could properly make sense of the broken excerpts, a screaming rocket slammed down from the sky near his position and sent his orderlies flying about in fine bits and pieces. Tactical displays lit with contact markers in the Southern positions as battlecannons started hammering those lines.
"6th battallion! Prepare for battle, Firmus falls today! Onwards, Death Korps, for Krieg and for our salvation!" he voxed hastily, wiping blood and spattered innards from his masked face.
*********************
ROUND 0: Recon Phase
On the map above we can see the various forces arranging for battle:
- In the middle, the engineers sit tight in their fortifications with 2nd company keeping watch in the well hidden southwestern bunker across Bruzeh.
- Surrounding them, the Death Korps are preparing to blow up some big holes in their lines to rush through from.
- Kairos' armoured thrust rolls on from the southwestern road, following their skirmishing scout bikes that have infiltrated the area earlier on. More on them in a bit.
- From the eastern woods, the jaegers are trundling forth through the swamps in their Chimeras and Valkyries.
- Blasting down the highway full speed, the dust cloud kicked by the Crimson Fists in the North can't not be seen by anyone glancing that way.
- Barring the few Land Speeders in the Krieg lines, the Black Templars have not yet been called to the guardsmen's aid.
- There are some local hoodlums surely up to no good on Charnel Hill.
- At the Glade of the Ancients, the tank company recon stumbles on something altogether more sinister...
As the 2nd tank battallion is still racing towards the scene, their 1st and 2nd scout platoons have already sped forth to recon the situation. It quickly becomes apparent that the area is under heavy comms jamming, though simpler telegraphs still make it through to cpt Kairos. The bikers quickly observe Krieg's southern trenchlines and hastily laid minefields, mapping them out for following troops and make their way through the woods to the North, attemping to reach the river bank for further intel. As luck would have it, though, there are two key discoveries before this happens: communications falter and fail near the Glade, while deeper in the woods they come upon a hidden bunker that at first glance seems abandoned, but opens fire on the scouts as they attempt to sneak in closer. With orders to ensure the safety of the bunker, famously uncooperative cpt Kemeny of the 2nd engineer company had decided to shoot first and ask questions later. Casualties are avoided and when major Escamilla hears of the situation, he orders the garrison to hoist some unmistakably Selenite flags on the bunker walls to make it clear for any future attempts which side they are on, just in case the visitors happened to be friendly forces. Lo and behold, soon after the other scout platoon makes contact as well, this time managing to open talks between the two forces. By sheer chance, the besieged commander was reunited into the communication networks of the Selenites before the fighting would properly begin! This detail would not go entirely unnoticed by the Kriegsmen, as their busy e-war team on the other side of the river would soon find out.
(Just to reiterate the importance of all this work, we are playing with full on fog of war and broken communications here. Below is an example of what the jaeger commander would have known at the time when first shots are fired and even there most of the fortifications are marked out only because the tank battallion told them where they are.)
Soon enough, the first spearhead wave of Kairos' vehicles would roll forth and start breaching the Krieg lines. Seeing rockets arc up from the southern woods, the Black Templar speeders snap immediately to action and put pedal to the metal towards this disturbance. Explosions ring out as the Krieg command post at the Comms Station and their 2nd infantry lines start to get hammered. With the communications playing all sorts of merry havoc, cpt Kairos is unaware of his second scout platoon losing their sanity by the Glade as they attempt to sneak close by and come upon sights no man was meant to see.
ROUND 1:
The Crimson Fists trundle happily forwards in the North. Their leading Land Speeder scouts take a faceful of cannon and laser fire from the defenders of the logistics area, veering instead towards the laboratories to break off from the fire. Kairos' scout bikes in the woods are either too bamboozled by the eldritch powers at the Glade or harried by the Templar's speeders to provide much observations of artillery effects, but they attempt to find cover and position themselves as they best can.
While most of the jaeger force advances westwards, on Charnel Hill their light scout sentinels come upon a bunch of non-hostile locals apparently attempting to excavate something from the ground. Discussions on the nature of their activities are quickly tabled as the Crimson Fists break cover on the North slope, missiles and lascannon beams strafing the men. Above them, a black Thunderhawk screams overhead on a recon flight that seems to have awoken a multitude of angry AA stations, batteries and the 56th fighter flight that all combine to bring it down into the hillside as a fiery ruin.
On the southern road, the armoured column swerves to bypass the scouted minefields and begins smashing through the 2nd Krieg infantry, which is almost suicidally driven forwards to meet them by their cruel commissar. Near them on the Heroes' Bridge, however, the Kriegsters see some success of their own as their artillery blows apart some of the mines and obstacles set against them by the engineers. As the Stormsword "Breaker of Hope" fires on the walls to keep the defenders busy, the 1st grenadier platoon drives their Centaurs forth to smash a path through the blasted obstacles and fights its way into the suburbs near the fortress. A fierce firestorm ensues as combat engineers and grenadiers wrestle for the area. Another Thunderhawk flies by, harrying the defenders' efforts in conjunction with the battlecannons of the advancing Machariuses.
On the western trenchlines, the Krieg force starts its advance over the central fields behind the relative safety of the massed Macharius tanks while heavy indirect fire and rocket barrages drop on their heads en masse. The engineers, perhaps foolishly, immediately send out their mobile scouts reinforced with Hellhound flame tanks towards the Bio-labs for a quick breakthrough, but instead get caught in a brutal firefight with the 3rd Krieg infantry company stationed nearby. Though the Hellhounds cause massed casualties, the wave of Kriegsmen soon overruns the light scout detachment leaving no survivors. Realising this fight was for real, maj Escamilla began organising any found civilians into the underground tunnels and hurried them away to the South.
ROUND 2:
Having observed the possible trouble the Krieg lines are facing, the Black Templars have been climbing into their drop pods high in the orbit. Benith Flotilla's flagship, battle barge "Pious Flame", maneuvers into position as precision lances warm up and men are sent down. As the battle below intensifies, the defenders are taken by total surprise by the trails of fire smashing down from the clouds in the midst of it all. Deathstorm pods are blown apart by the AA batteries in the first wave or smash down into the ground with their deadly payload clearing the landing zones, either way protecting the immediately following black-clad warriors that soon emerge from the billowing dust. With the support of techmarine Grabowski's meltateams, the crusaders led by Emperor's Champion Meier breach through the ceiling of Fort Firmus and forever silence the sizable artillery battery situated therein.
Though this is a catastrophic turn of events for the engineers, they do not yet crumble as the southern pressure lets up soon after. The Krieg grenadiers push hard against the fortifications, but are repulsed in fiery tatters by the defenders while behind them the Heroes' Bridge lights up. As the superheavy Stormsword attempts to cross the bridge, it suffers a critical rocket hit from the 56th fighter flight above and explodes spectacularly right before a flock of Valkyries zips closeby to disgorge elite storm troopers on ropes and grav-chute backpacks to take the bridge. Despite the best efforts of the armoured spearhead and the jaeger elite, the Kriegsmen situated on the little isle beneath the bridge do manage to raise their guns high and blow apart the main bridgeway before their position gets simultaneously pummeled to all hell by rockets, laser fusillades and plasma streaks until the whole area is one giant, chaotic cloud of dust and water vapour. While more reinforcements of the 2nd tank battallion pour into the fight, it is clear that any hopes of decisive crossing may have been lost.
Regarding the 2nd tank battallion, there was something tricksy going on. After contact was lost with the 2nd scout platoon near the Glade of the Ancients, a visibly shaken runner approached the command demanding to see Kairos. This being denied, after all that's what lower officers are there for, the runner attempted to attack the poor sod instead as if otherworldly compelled to his mission. After the runner was bloodlessly subdued, other merry havoc started playing in the comms network, almost as if some malign entities were roaming on the radio waves. Having finally found their way to Kairos' vehicle, a mocking ghostly voice rasping out of the loudspeakers deemed it fit to start instructing the young captain, offering assistance even. This obvious witchery did not sit well with the fiery youth, but he held his tongue and offensive plans for the time being, given the worrying decree of intel the voice seemed to have into their planet's situation.
In the North, the defenders gave what limited resistance they could fiercely. Machineguns mowed down the Krieg cavalry, aided by the indirect shelling from the South, while 1st AA peppered the Land Speeders zipping over the marshes, but the enemy was everywhere. Black Templars smashed them from behind with fire and sword, Crimson Fists' terminators revved their heavy Land Raiders through the prepared minefields to rake their lines and all the while waves of riflemen converged on the trenches. While the minefields certainly did their job on the lighter Rhinos following behind, almost taking out the CF HQ section, the situation was clearly untenable without immediate reserves.
On Charnel Hill, lt col Soriano had given explicit orders for the scout leaders to negotiate a ceasefire with the Astartes. After all, he was a loyal servant of the Emperor and these were his angels. Surely they wouldn't be here without a cause and for all our souls, this needed to be solved. The senior devastator sergeant did entertain this attempt, but wasn't in any haste to stop his tactical brothers from exchanging some pot shots with the jaegers' 1st mechanised company firts. All in all, the tense situation quickly turned into an ultimatum from the marines: to prove your loyalty, rebellious curs, you are going to immediately turn your rifles on this cultist riffraff and execute them on the spot while they watch. Not that Soriano would mind much, but some among the more patriot boots on the ground certainly did. One such individual in particular was a famously extremist commissar Matei, attached to the 1st jaeger company currently listening to this nonsense.
ROUND 3:
More drop pods rained fire from the sky, smashing on the southern lines of Firmus as well as Charnel Hill. Castellan Grimwald stomped out of his pod, voxing to the nearby Crimson Fists in anger and demanding they stop standing on their hands and get on with burning all these witch-shelterers here. A firm rebuff from his more level-headed cousins ("You have no authority over us, Castellan. The situation is under control.") got under the furious Templar's skin and further violence soon broke out in the bushes. The whole thing became a bit of a debacle, though, as a lone, unsupported group of marines is not exactly what you'd like to have charging into a fully armed mechanised company and their helpful sentinel brethren pouring more fire on the aggressors. Though lots of broken bodies were left decorating the woods, Grimwald's men were driven away in disarray while the Crimson Fists stood passively facepalming on the side. In the ensuing confusion, the local diggers took their chance to escape captivity and retreated underground below the vast hatches they'd been excavating. True to lt col Soriano's orders, the scouts still tried to calm the situation with the Astartes, but being shown the business end of boltguns crushed any hope of such resolution.
In the South, the Templars' speeders had picked up some strange signs and light phenomena happening on the Glade of the Ancients, prompting their Krieg allies to fire indirect barrages there while the speeders themselves attacked the tank battallion's artillery positions they located in the deep woods. Kairos' HQ was floundering a bit, having to deal with the ghostly phone calls emanating from coffee mugs that started to melt and twist afterwards or notebooks that began sporting agonised grins rather unlike one would expect from their office supplies. By the wrecked Heroes' Bridge, the storm troopers were packing themselves back onto their Valkyries and left the tanker boys a gift: the Krieg artillerists under the bridge had quite surprisingly survived the onslaught without any casualties, but been so dazed and disoriented that the assault troopers had simply cuffed them up with a bit of a kick to the teeth for good measure. Their Medusa guns were still in a usable condition, so have at them! With the Bridge at least temporarily wrecked so that any heavy gear might not be able to cross safely, both armoured companies of Russes lined up to fight across the river Bruzeh as Krieg's Machariuses kept advancing on the other shore. While some 15 or so Leman Russ battle tanks are a fearsome sight, their deployment right there and then was to prove rather unfortunate as well: with an ear-shattering rip, the Pious Flame shot a pillar of light down at the silos. The riverside settlement shattered in a million pieces and tanks flew about like leaves in a storm.
At the main peninsula, the northern defence lines crumbled under the Crimson Fists assault and the last remnants of their fleeing defenders were brutally pursued and hacked down by the raging Templars, staining the shores of river Rados red with their blood. This was not without its own hardships, granted, as the assailants were under constant indirect bombardment as they advanced. At the riverside bunker, the Fists' speeders drove the defending 1st AA battery out of their hole but got likewise mauled by the retreating 2nd jaegers as they realised the northern line was being overrun. While the crusaders that had taken Fort Firmus were busy raising the black banner and massacring any civilians they could get their hands on, another force of theirs fought bitterly against the 1st sapper engineers on the trenches. The western Krieg line kept on advancing while the sky filled with tracers. Defenders' fighters attempted a run against the Machariuses but ate some fatal flak from the 1st Krieg AA towed behind them but most spectacularly, cpt Galan of the Crimson Fists had ordered his Thunderhawk, North Star, to swoop in to the thickest fighting. North Star sure did so, but also dove head first into a hail of shots that blew it abruptly in pieces, flinging dead and burning jump pack troops around the shores of river Rados as it tumbled down. Techmarine Grabowski and the jaegers' tech support under magos Septimus-Khi enjoyed their day blasting each other with heat rays, melta shots, laser beams and irradiated warcrime launchers across river Rados.
ROUND 4:
As casualties mount, the northern advance slows down somewhat. Logistics area is consolidated on and the forces that pushed through advance into positions to support the final breakthrough at the Fort in the near future. Vicente's lone remaining Land Speeder is stuck in the muck.
While thus far the Kriegsmen have been able to utilise the Comms Station effectively for jamming and signal recon purposes, the Templars seem to have better use for it. 2nd Land Speeders, or what remains of them after some Russes shot them down, swoop by to rewire the station's settings and put an educational propaganda piece on the airwaves with full power. Titled "Reward of the Witch", this rather unsubtle message is now blasting across the various comms networks so much that even Lord-Commissar Krampf, leading the Krieg forces, has to take a break from his internal screaming to order the e-war team on signal boosting duties lest he get any of his own orders through either.
On Charnel Hill, the light sentinel units break away from the Crimson Fists and pursue the retreating Templars downhill while the boys in blue start blasting the 1st jaeger company apart on the hilltop. Led by commissar Matei, now openly defying lt col Soriano's orders of surrender, what remains of the 1st company starts heading underground as well to buy time for the locals to get on with whatever project they had at hand. Above them the Templar Thunderhawk "Lightbringer" rips apart two fighters of the 34th flight.
Desperation peaks at Fort Firmus, as the invaders wade against maj Ecamilla's position.
First wave is lead by the spirited Emperor's Champion Meier himself, supported by a multitude of other units nearby. While not found wanting in élan, the attack is repulsed after all the Templars have been rendered casualties against the shattered walls. While the Kriegsmen prepare for another go, a daring charge of the 1st sapper engineers supported by the captured Medusas on the Bridge breaks the southern support and alleviates some pressure from the push. The Medusas themselves do the best they can under heavy Krieg fires from afar as barrages also drop on the Cape of Enlightenment's doorsteps.
Left less than adequately supported, the Krieg charge fails as well with their men broken on the blood-slicked walls. Major Escamilla's quickly diminishing company has suffered at least 50 % casualties and their fortifications lie in smoking ruins, running molten from the melta beams and breaching charges arrayed against them, yet momentarily unbroken. Why are those jaegers just sitting their arses on the Cape of Enlightenment?
In the southwestern woods, Kairos' HQ attacks to drive away the Templars' 1st speeders. The Templars take this in stride, but turning North to attack the Glade properly this time they are in turn raked by coruscating energy beams and unnaturally coloured airbursts. Instead of mere armoured men in ritual circles and dancing lights, the Glade is now fully aflame with sorcerous power and strange structures are rising from the ground. Breaking contact from the fire, their last remnants flee northwards harried by light fire from below as the 2nd scout platoon has finally snapped back to its senses from its earlier witchcraft induced stupor. Lt col Soriano, an Emperor-fearing man as he is, has heard taken Kairos' warnings of potential sorcery seriously and sent his Valkyries that way on full speed as well.
On the southern bank, both armoured companies are still violently shaken from the orbital strike, vomiting in their vehicles that flipped 720 degrees or lying unconscious from banging their heads who knows where. From what can be gleaned, it would miraculously still seem that most of the tanks themselves are still operational should the crews pull themselves together at some point.
ROUND 5:
The main assault peaks as the combined forces of Fists, Kriegsmen and once more leading Templars smash against major Escamilla's position, now also pummeled by the Machariuses' cannons. All around the fight there's indirect artillery falling on both sides' lines as well as direct fire from the guns on Rados' eastern shore. Though many shall fall on the way, finally veteran sergeant Noqueira's crusaders blast through the inner walls. Given that the good sergeant is on a quest of penance for previous failures, breaching the enemy command post that has already claimed many of his brothers and by his nature a very, very frustrated individual, what follows for poor major Escamilla is not pretty.
(One of the players made an artist's rendition of the good major's final moments.)
The Selenites' counter on the southside is gathering some momentum as well, though. While Heroes' Bridge is wrecked and under heavy bombardment, the 1st mechanised company of the tank battallion has been making hasty reconstruction works and pushed through to the other side. Behind them, 2nd armoured has finally gotten themselves in some semblance of order and began fighting back. 1st mobile AA has also broken cover and approached the river to blast the Krieg's AA guns on the fields. Battered remnants of the scout platoons are either fervently attempting to communicate with the Templar speeders for help against the witches at the Glade or pondering the feasibility of swimming across the Bruzeh to blow up the bridge over river Plentos. The sun is starting to set and dusk falls over the battlefield lit by explosions.
The last remaining fighterplane of the 56th starts its attack run towards the Glade, but soon finds itself under attack as some ungodly fleshmetal monsters burst into the air from the woods and tear it down. The Valkyries that follow soon after are likewise greeted with crackling energy beams whipping over the treetops as machines are torn to pieces and men embroiled in a life and death struggle with demonic entities and foul sorceries as dark woods echo the wails of the damned and the cracks of plasma guns. Cpt Kairos, having sorted out his command squad's suspicions about what's going on, likewise barges in flame throwers roaring as artillery rounds fall into the roiling madness. Despite their multiple interactions, Kairos has flat out refused to listen to the ghostly voice's offers of help against the Imperium, which now merely prompts one final scoff from the other side.
"Ah, my little captain. I see that you've decided to come and make some rather bad decisions. So be it. Come, then, and enjoy the hospitality of Magister Nashtek and the Cabal of the Unflinching Eye!"
The lines crash as reality breaks. Strange shapes float in the air gunned down by lasfire, witches riding on living disks of flesh and flames charge forth to mow down men and machines alike as all control breaks down. One wave of floating monsters breaks off of cpt Kairos' push, another in turn driving them back off, it itself destroyed under the jaegers' plasma guns.
On Charnel Hill, the tactical group surges forth to drive down the remaining men of the jaeger's 1st company. A bitter tunnel fight breaks out and resistance turns out heavier than the marines expected. As they fight and die in the tunnels, the marines note these structures to be of rather large and sturdy make, also fitting with the previously noted titanic technology on the planet. Not that large, maybe ten or so metres, but... oh dear.
ROUND 6:
The main peninsula is a mess. Crimson Fists' HQ attempts to aid their terminators and the Templars on the southern lines to repel any incoming mechanised charge but suffer almost total losses including their groundside captain in the ensuing clash, needing to pull back where their Predator support is also currently getting stuck after suffering some 75 % losses from the eastern batteries. While the tank battallion fights hard from their bridgehead position, they cannot push on the Fort alone and no help in that seems to be forthcoming as lt col Soriano's HQ hits full throttle and speeds over towards the rampant witchery at the Glade. "Fort is lost already, but so are all our souls if we don't put an end to this!" he shouts as he goes. 1st mechanised of the armoured force, almost bled to death and under constant fire, is undoubtedly very impressed by this turn of events. 2ns armoured puts up a fierce fight, but is unable to stop the Krieg Machariuses from shooting fish in the barrel as they casually tear through the still dazed Russes of 1st armour as they are unable to maneuver in response.
Having lost connection to major Escamilla's command post, cpt Kemeny of the engineers 2nd infantry has currently managed to march his men right under Fort Firmus. They see to the last straggling civilians that they find, though most that they find are indeed already victims of the Templars' brutal rampage. With the upper levels likely utterly taken by the enemy, Kemeny doesn't dare to order a full attack upwards without intel or communications to any supporting formations if there are any. Instead, he resigns to the loss of Firmus and orders the men to prepare rigging the extensive ammunition stores of the already destroyed 1st grand battery for demolition readiness. If the enemy has indeed taken the fortress, they won't enjoy it for long.
In the northwestern corner, the 1st scout platoon of the tank battallion stashes their bikes into the bushes, shoulders their explosive packs, slips into the cold stream and swims across river Bruzeh. The nearby Krieg 1st infantry is none the wiser, being busy with the latest educational materials being played on the radio, but the marines with their speeders' extensive sensor suites are not so blind to the situation. Preparations are made, for it is not immediately clear what the infiltrators are aiming to do.
Around the Glade, some of the glittering, silvery structures float away from the Glade and keep on hammering the fleeing storm troopers as ghostly Astartes pour after others. Cpt Kairos and his HQ have pulled their heads clear enough to take a little breather and bring down the remaining fleshmetal fliers when they swoop down towards the nearby artillery position.
On Charnel Hill, the Crimson Fists have realised the implications of the structures they are attempting to take: ruined and dilapitated, yet unmistakably functional Knight hangars. The tactical formation receives orders to bring the entrance down with all haste, aim the Vindicators against the walls if you have to, but close the damned hatches. Before they have the chance to do so, though, loud shots ring out from the tunnels as heavy cannons blast the Vindicators apart. Half a dozen hulking mecha suits follow, loudly bellowing their defiance against the oppressors as they toss any remaining marines out of their path and break out of their industrial tomb. Srg Miranda's devastators pepper them with missiles and lascannons from the moment they rise, but only one monstrosity falls before they turn to face these ants. The remaining jaeger sentinels are either ordered to extricate themselves from the battlefield to deliver a message to high command or heavily damaged by the Lightbringer's strafing run as it descends to pick the mauled crusader HQ up from the swamps where they were embarrassingly driven.
ROUND 7:
Artillery crashes down everywhere. At the main Fort, gun batteries and tanks duel over the river as infantry tries to hold onto what gains they've made. The Crimson Fists armoured assets seem to be rather stuck and their manpower barring the terminators heavily depleted in the furnace of war while the Krieg HQ under major Plamodon has been doggedly waiting as a reserve in case any of the marine lines would fail.
In the North, jaegers' 2nd company, still almost unattrited, finally receives the order to head North and take the supply road. As they go, they observe a singular Land Speeder finally getting itself out of the mud and promptly destroy it as they go. On Charnel Hill, the first handful of knights roars forth and tramples the devastators into the dirt under commissar Matei's leadership. "For Selen II, for freedom and our salvation! You are a coward, Soriano! Death to the Emperor's false lapdogs!"
In Northwest, the 1st scout platoon is monitored by the Templar speeders as it starts making it way towards the bridge. Flares are shot, Krieg's 2nd AA moves into the open firing on them and as the saboteurs abandon their mission, 1st infantry marches in to secure the position for good. The bridge shall stand for now, it seems.
In the accursed forest by the Glade, last remaining storm troopers are either atomised by the energy beams coming from the floating fortresses (themselves under constant artillery barrages, bits and bobs crumbling off from them or some even crashing down into the ground) or driven out of the woods and burned to death by the ghostly Astartes on their heels. Lt col Soriano's HQ is late to the scene, going around the minefields as they are, unable to support Kairos' brave charge against the encroaching abominations. Kairos leads his men once more unto the fight, driving Magister Nashtek's personal guard back but risking a nasty flanking maneuver from others to his right unless immediate support arrives in time. Move, Soriano, move!
As things unfold, the Crimson Fist commander is watching his tactical display like a stormy summer weather report... (joke here being our legendary Finnish weatherman, Pekka Pouta, sometimes commenting on the more absurd turns of weather with lines like "one can't but laugh at this stuff").
ROUND 8:
As if guided by the fates, Noqueira and other Black Templars at the Fort tap their Crimson Fist cousins on the shoulder, nod for a change of guard and start making their way towards the logistics area where their airlift is arriving. Chaplain Navarro and his terminators acknowledge this, but mere moments later their world goes flying as cpt Kemeny and his engineers throw the switch and explode Fort Firmus sky-high. Vast munition stocks blow up as one, sending concrete and men flying about like so much confetti. Few still moving survivors of the terminator squads are soon observed around the ruins, instantly under yet more fire from the 1st AA. Major Plamodon and his men keep their position, dusting themselves up from the rubble thrown on their roughly halved company. South of the Fort the tank formations keep exchanging fire while the Russes withdraw from heavy indirect battering towards a new hope: though the Heroes' Bridge is cut and battered, the last few men of the engineers 1st sapper platoon (87 % casualties) under lt Berenak have managed to round up enough supplies and civilian hands from the Cape of Enlightenment to build a pontoon bridge over the Bruzeh. It sure ain't pretty nor safe, but it might be possible even for heavier armour willing to take a risk.
Down the slopes of Charnel Hill, there are eight knights of various forms hurrying towards the main fight. What remains of the jaegers' sentinels attempts to convey lt col Soriano's encouraging words and identify the machines, but they are scornfully blasted to bits by the furious walkers. "No cowardice, no compromise! To the final victory, for Selen II!"
Madness reigns in the woods as fighting continues around the Glade. The ghostly warriors of the witches finally break any survivors of Kairos' HQ, burning them to crisp with otherworldly powers and bouncing off lt col Soriano's attempt in storming their position. Young captain Kairos himself is momentarily still alive, though a limb lighter and stomped face first in the mud having lost an arm in the struggle. 2nd scout platoon is near total destruction as it endures more crackling energy blasts from the unrelenting floating castles.
Artillery duels arc over the battlefield, yet sometimes the realities of too great ranges show up as well. As 2nd SPG of the tank battallion attempts to find its purchase on the Krieg's 2nd Earthshaker battery, the rounds fall just short and instead drop on the heads of their 1st infantry company.
ROUND 9:
The end is nigh.
On Charnel Hill, the knights tread through the marsh and splatter the remains of the still woozy terminators with heavy cannonfire. The Russes of 2nd armoured finally manage to cross Bruzeh and partake in keeping the midfield as a confused mess. Krieg HQ falls back from the ruined fort, as Lord-Commissar Krampf sees no value in holding to it when the Fort itself is well and thoroughly destroyed. In the North, the 2nd jaeger company is driven further along by Krieg artillery.
In the land of the witches there is a sudden precision strike against any roaming disk riders over the woods as the Templars' speeders first make a pincer strafe against them, breaking them off to be ran down by a decisive Thunderhawk assault of every remaining marine at their disposal. South of their position the sorcerous powers are still battering the artillery positions and Soriano's panicked HQ down.
ROUND 10:
The last hurrah.
Knights wade over Rados as the armoured units of the tank battallion thunder over the razed suburbs with banners unfurled to reclaim the ruined Fort. As they go, they finally destroy what was left of the Fists' traffic jam or the smoking Machariuses. In the North, a determined push of the tactical marines that have thus far merely looted the Bio-labs and played cards in conjunction with Soriano's mental breakdown over this daemonic business manages to convince the 2nd jaegers to sod off as fast as they can instead of holding onto the road on their own unsupported.
At the Glade, there is one final gathering of might as the tank battallion and Templars have found a common language in "witchcraft bad" as they strike against the insanity. As the 1st mobile AA fires away at the ghost marines, now one armed Kairos slumps over one of their remaining Hydras and orders all available guns on the sorcerers. As men charge to their deaths, clad in verdant green cloths or black ceramite, they stand side by side against the flickering fires of other worlds and silvery towers crawling with blasphemous runes and eyes. All of this comes crumbling down, however, as their charge punches through and Magister Nashtek, seeing the futility of prolonging his stay, steps into a portal and vanishes. After the mage's departure, the magical machinery and power animating his soldiery all fails, falling to mere rubble and dust as their animus fades.
As the final assault commences, cpt Kemeny, now the commanding officer of what remains of the 3rd combat engineer battallion, steps out of the secret tunnel. As he witnesses the unearthly light show over the night-shrouded woods, he recalls his old commander's words. "If only I had some rasp juice..."
*******************
CONCLUSION AND AFTERMATH:
The battle for Taranus Populus had come to an end.
The Imperial forces had suffered losses in manpower and equipment, but for the most part they had held their lines, taken the logistics area, robbed the laboratories and most importantly, practically wiped the encircled battallion and their fortress of the map. The Selenites had failed to cut the Imperial supply lines, punch through for deep penetration or save their settlement. The engineers' heroics had managed to save some 500-1000 civilians through the tunnels and the locals seemed to have gained access to more valuable war materiel in form of some knight armours (though for any operational purposes they do need to be properly repaired first, having been thoroughly neglected for ages).
As a whole, the situation is an Imperial victory where Lord-Commissar Krampf can smile (if he actually can smile, no-one knows) contently, as can the Black Templars who have honourably acquitted themselves of their previous shame with their blood. For the Selenites, their further technological discoveries have made it all the more possible to ponder if they could escape the Imperial retribution by offering the nearest forge world their vassaldom in exchange for intervention on their plight. For that purpose, though, they should try to open some strategic breathing space by disrupting the Imperial reinforcing actions to gain any negotiation leverage. Soooo, maybe a spoiling attack or some critical infrastructure target next time as the Selenites attempt to prevent the stabilisation of the Imperial siege lines?
Find out in the next episode. Thanks for reading, happy wargaming :thumbsup:
Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
- Carl Sagan
