Apocalyptic Apocalypse
Stormlord Imotekh was roused from his stasis at the Secret Installation Code named Crucible Four One to lead the defence against encroaching mutant human forces supported by a daemonic horde. It seemed that the enemy warmaster, Horus, had detected the energy signature of the powerful Star of Thaxis weapon system and recognised it as the perfect weapon for disabling the palace void shields on distant Terra.
Enemy marine units were swarming into the main complex by the time Canoptek servants had raised enough units to mount a defence. Nemesor Zahndrekh and Vargard Obyron led the defence of the Star with two units of lychguard and two of warriors, a squad of flayed ones and a cryptek with nine pariahs. At the entrance of the underground complex a further ten flayed ones and twenty more warriors brought the total number of defenders to over one hundred.
To the left of our position on the surface Imotekh took position with his royal court holding an objective supported by the Annihilation Barge NNV Beguiler. In the centre, a tomb stalker, on the right the barge NNV Cleansing Flame. Two sentry pylons anchored the flanks, the one on the left close to the large lake there. On the right Orikan the Diviner, an Overlord and Anrakyr the Traveller led a squad of immortals each.
Forward on the left the Annihilation Barge NNV Nemesor Arkenardin, the Tesseract Vault NNV Implacable and three units of wraiths led by an overlord. On the island on the right the Doomsday Ark NNV Thunder Master with the Tesseract Ark NNV Inferno to its left. Behind, screening the left of the immortals the Barge NNV Lance of Victory.
A transcendent C’Tan added its strength to the right centre, with a Triarch stalker in the middle. Behind the centre ringed by tomb blades, the ghost arks NNV Fearsome Terror with the NNV Glorious Charge just behind. The Obelisk No Retreat also hovered in the centre. Predictably, the enemy seized the initiative, their vehicle mounted searchlights picking out their targets.
Despite the fact that this was our planet the mutant forces had built defensive positions around an impressive landing bay that they had used to build up their forces. Multiple armoured vehicles were lined up behind the defence lines, strong anti aircraft artillery ringed the position and a unit held the objective at the rear. A land speeder advanced towards the objective on our right in a pool by the island.
On the left they made no move towards the sixth objective which lay beyond a bend in the river that ran from the lake. We lost wraiths to fire from a vindicator and the Implacable took an early hit. A thunderfire cannon facing our right wounded the C’Tan and the Thunder Hammer was also hit early, laser fire lighting up the night sky. The Inferno then exploded, hit by another Vindicator shot. An enemy walker facing our right, a Knight, hit the C’Tan but it resisted the shots, only to be wounded by the huge enemy shadowsword tank in the centre.
A second super heavy then killed the C’Tan which exploded with devastating results, the explosion immobilising the enemy landspeeder, killing wraiths and damaging the Vault and Obelisk. Marine bolter fire caused further losses amongst the wraiths and the Thunder Master was wrecked. Huge gaps already opened in our ranks therefore.
The Implacable destroyed the enemy shadowsword, its explosion wreaking some havoc and lightning strikes damaged a few units. The landspeeder was destroyed and the Triarch stalker damaged a vindicator. We attacked the enemy units in the underground complex to little effect and seized both the central objectives on both flanks.
The enemy forward units had not moved and neither had they attempted to deploy their drop pods, but now they did so, three dreadclaws falling on our right, one immediately immobilised by interception fire from our pylons. Only one disgorged its cargo – a dreadnaught. Underground and all over our deployment zone the air crackled with the power of the warp and half a dozen demonic troop squads appeared, plus two units of nurglings and no fewer than four huge daemons surrounded our position with two demon princes arriving underground.
Demon juggernaughts appeared by the tomb stalker, a defiler on the left behind the wraiths, a forge fiend behind the immortals. A titan now appeared on the right close to the wrecked Thunder Master. Finally in the centre a Thunderhawk arrived. A helldrake flew on damaging the Lance of Victory but was immediately shot down by the No Retreat. The titan now destroyed the Implacable, its explosion killing more wraiths and almost the newly arrived defiler.
A Basilisk now destroyed the Stalker in the centre and the defiler wrecked the Beguiler. The Nemesor Arkenardin lost its destructor whilst underground a couple of pariahs fell. Orikan’s squad took losses but all reanimated. Both ghost arks were destroyed and exploded with the loss of nearly half their warrior passengers. Our flyers now all deployed, the Night Shroud NNV Reaping Shadow bombing the rearmost enemy marines with disappointingly little effect.
Three Doom Scythes attacked the same unit with little result, the NNV Slave to Duty, White Heat and Vigorous; Night Scythes NNV Deadly Prowess and Blade of Justice dropped deathmarks led by crypteks close to the starport whilst the Dread Shadow dropped a smaller squad near the entrance to the underground complex to the south. Several fliers were damaged by interceptor fire, the death ray on the Vigorous was put out of action and the bomb bays of the Reaping Shadow jammed.
A second Triarch stalker flank marched on to the north west of the enemy position with two units of praetorians, to the west nine aconthrites came on to attack the demon there but both they and the praetorians took heavy losses to sniper fire. Scarabs appeared in the centre of the enemy position too, summoned by an overlord. Three more transcendent C’tan also appeared from the flanks
A psychic attack then forced all our troop units in the south to forgo firing and assault instead which brought our warriors into assault as well as the lychguard, pariahs and flayed ones. Our warriors on the right destroyed a dreadnaught and several enemy armoured vehicles were destroyed by our C’Tanic attacks. The Reaping Shadow destroyed an enemy Storm Talon killing nearly all aboard.
Our overlord and wraiths assaulted the defiler but he was killed, reanimating. Imotekh’s unit destroyed a walker that had appeared near them but the tomb stalker was easily killed by the skull taker. Assaults by immortals, lychguard and warriors did not go well.
An enemy shadow sword now attacked via the lake to the west and another storm eagle appeared to the north west and a storm talon to the north east. A land raider appeared to the south east with another in the centre and the Thunderhawk landed, disgorging Abbadon* and co. Imotekh and two companions fell under fire from the Shadowsword leaving his royal court decimated.
*Provoking traditional cries of ‘Mama Mia’.
Anrakyr’s unit was destroyed now by enemy dreadnaught fire leaving just one survivor and we lost the sentry pylon on the left. Orikan and his unit fell too, the overlord was in assault with daemons on the right having lost all his troops. The Thunderhawk destroyed the crippled Nemesor Arkenardin and Trazyn the Infinite, accompanying the praetorians was killed in assault but reappeared in Imotekh’s unit, replacing a lord. The praetorians were destroyed though together with the stalker.
Our fighters in the underground complex were nearly all gone: Obyron and Zahndrek plus their warriors, although they reanimated they had nowhere free to reappear so phased out. The pariahs were also destroyed though the lychguard and warriors fighting the plaguefather fought on heroically. Our scarabs were wiped out as were deathmarks and warriors near the complex entrance by bloodletters and the skull taker. Nurglings wiped out the survivors of the Fearsome Terror.
Abbadon’s unit destroyed another deathmark squad and assault marines took out our reserve immortals attacking to the west of the starport. The struggle with the defiler continued to stalemate. More reserve warriors appearing on our right were supported by fliers and remaining tomb blades. Terminators wiped out the forward most deathmark squad to the north west. The demon destroyed the aconthrites on the western flank though they deprived him of his armour.
We deep struck with a destroyer lord, six heavy and ten other destroyers plus five more scarabs and a tomb spyder to the north and east of the enemy starport, but they were heavily outnumbered and seemed to be able to do little damage to the well protected enemy. The Tesseract Vault NNV Eternal Vigilance now attacked on the eastern flank destroying several enemy units and three monoliths deep struck around the eastern side of the starport, but the Leviathan was immediately destroyed by interceptor fire.
The other two, the NNV Slayer and Vigilance did some damage with their eternity gates and various other systems, damaging the central landraider but disappointing against the librarians. An enemy vindicator on the right was wrecked; indeed most enemy vehicles had now been destroyed. Our tomb spyder took wounds and all our fliers were scarred by now. The Thunderhawk was destroyed by our C’tan. Our last Barge damaged an enemy dreadclaw but we lost a large unit on warriors on the right.
Melta bomb assault now immobilised the Vigilance and our destroyers were locked in assault with the librarians Our HQ was finally destroyed by demons but a lord and cryptek reanimated. Our last immortal fell, assaulting to support his Overlord and he fell too but reanimated. Our last Tesseract Vault appeared, the Black Prince, from the west as the Eternal Vigilance and Titan had destroyed each other. The Black Prince wiped out the enemy holding an objective allowing us to claim two of the six at the end.
Our remaining pylon destroyed a dreadnaught and warriors took out a dreadclaw. Our last lychguard fell in the complex leaving it entirely in enemy hands. An enemy flak vehicle and their last vindicator was destroyed, the latter by scarabs, the enemy had lost their rhinos too and their last storm eagle to assault by a C’Tan. Abbadon and his unit was destroyed by a C’Tan too and they enemy had lost their walker though they brought back a second titan from the north. Our tomb spyder fell in assault trying to take on a huge unit of demons. The enemy had brought on large numbers of demonic reinforcements around the flanks even towards the end.
Enemy losses were over 8000, perhaps as many as 10000, but our losses exceeded 16000, rallied forces were 4486. Original planned deployment was 16,999 but replacements and additional summoning meant our force peaked at 20,919. The enemy had lost most of their armour but still had two super heavy replacements at the end as we withdrew, plus a landraider. Numerous demons including four large ones and a skull taker remained, plus several librarians, terminator and marine squads, fiends and mounted demons who wiped out our destroyer unit.
The enemy warlord Horus and strong forces held the underground complex completely, their ability to deep strike had capitalised on our weakness in assault and our only area of clear superiority, flyers could not tackle underground forces. Horus seized the Star weapon and took it to aid in his rebellion, Imotekh and his other lieutenants had phased to their auxiliary stasis chambers and it was estimated that a recuperation period of approximately 10000 years would be required before they were operational again.
Lost:
Overlord Imotekh
Nemesor Zahndrekh
Vargard Obyron
Illuminor Szeras
Anrakyr the Traveller
Trazyn The Infinite
Orikan the Diviner
1 Overlord
4 Lords
7 Crypteks
Destroyer Lord
40 Immortals
108 Warriors
Ghost Arks
NNV Fearsome Terror
NNV Glorious Charge
25 Deathmarks
5 Transcendent C’Tan
15 Triarch Praetorians
15 Lychguard
2 Triarch Stalkers
Tomb Stalker
20 Flayed ones
9 Pariahs
9 Aconthrites
9 Wraiths
9 Scarabs
3 Tomb Blades
6 Heavy Destroyers
6 Destroyers
Sentry Pylon
Tomb Spyder
Doomsday Ark
NNV Thunder Master
4 Annihilation Barges
NNV Beguiler
NNV Nemesor Arkenardin
NNV Cleansing Flame
NNV Lance of Victory
2 Monoliths
NNV Slayer
NNV Leviathan
Tesseract Ark
NNV Inferno
2 Tesseract Vaults
NNV Implacable
NNV Eternal Vigilance
2 Obelisks
NNV No Retreat
NNV No Surrender
Survivors
1 Lord
1 Cryptek
1 Overlord
12 Warriors
2 Transcendent C’Tan
3 Night Scythes
NNV Deadly Prowess
NNV Blade of Justice
NNV Dread Shadow
2 Tomb Blades
3 scarabs
4 Destroyers
Night Shroud
NNV Reaping Shadow
3 Doom Scythes
NNV Slave to Duty
NNV Vigorous
NNV White Heat
1 Tesseract Vault
NNV Black Prince
1 Monolith
NNV Vigilance
1 Sentry Pylon
23-24.3.14
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