Vol. I, Iss. 4 |
9049999.M41 |
A Crusade of the Black Templars arrived in the sector this week, led by Commander Gallagher. To quote Gallagher, "We're here to save this sector, since it seems like our brethren can't clean out the hated aliens." The success of the Black Templars, however, has been less than phenomenal, but does present a glimmer of hope.
In their first battle, they took on the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Ashibah. The Tyranids were attacking the world Fiment, where the Black Templars had set up base. The Templars were ready for the Tyranids, however, and quickly deployed heavy weapons where they had vantage points that covered most of the battlefield. With little hope for success, the Tyranids charged at the Templars, but were brought down in a brilliant hail of fire. The Templars, jovial with their first success, decided to celebrate by letting the other chapters in the sector know what they thought of their "failures".
Commander Morsius, naturally, did not take too kindly to these actions. While the Black Templars were preparing one of Fiment's factories for a conversion that would allow it to create weapons of war, the Ultramarines launched an ambush, falling upon the Templars from positions in which they had been lying in wait for two days. The Ultramarines pushed back the Templars, taking control of the factory and declaring it as their own possession. The Templars quickly made their way back to their base, tending to the Marines wounded in the bitter feud between brother chapters. Morsius explained his attack by saying, "We have no need for glory hounds in this sector, only true warriors that will defend its citizens from the foul aliens."
The Templars decided to take on another Tyranid hive fleet, this time Scylla. The Tyranids had built defensible positions on Polis, in the shattered remnants of the bunkers they had taken from the Necrons. The Templars fell upon the Tyranids without mercy, but were temporarily surprised by a Carnifex bursting from the ground in their midst. They tore apart the Carnifex with purifying firepower, then turned their attentions back on the rest of the foul beast. The Tyranid forces were quickly splintered, their defensive positions torn down. In the aftermath, the few remaining Tyranids fled the field of battle, leaving a captured Imperial shrine to the Templars and regrouping with more Tyranids in the forest south of Jorun.
Then the Tyranids decided to take on the Fists of Gork warband, feeling that Orks would be another suitable challenge. They attacked the Orks on Guam, taking on a large force in the suburbs of a small town. The Orks' battlewagon was quickly destroyed, leaving them with no way to move about rapidly. The Emperor's Champion charged into battle, personally slaying an Ork Nob and leading his men in running down the mob that the Nob had been leading. The Orks were totally wiped out.
Then the Black Templars went to Menel, thinking to cleanse it of Dark Eldar. This was a sore mistake, as the Archon Maldroui was too clever for the Templars. The first patrols of the planet were lost, with one battle brother surviving. He was able to call the Templars to his aid, but before they could rescue him, Maldroui and his retinue personally captured the Marine and moved quickly to escape. The Dark Eldar took heavy losses from an overwhelming number of Marines, but the day was theirs. They fought off the Marines and took the captured soldier back to base, where surely they would torture him.
With that, the Templars set their sights on the newly arrived Eldar of Craftworld Ulthwe. In a night raid, they descended upon an Eldar factory. Two squads of Templars, led by the Emperor's Champion, emerged from the darkness and mercilessly slaughtered the Eldar. In the words of Commander Gallagher, it "proved once again that our hate for the alien is the greatest weapon of all". The burning hulk of a wrecked Falcon provided the illumination as the Templars quickly set about converting the factory for use building Astartes weaponry.
Craftworld Biel-Tan arrived in-sector, with unclear motives. They first fell upon the world Junta, apparently thinking to clear it of Tyranids from Hive Fleet Ashibah. The Eldar looked to have a chance when their Falcon slew the Hive Tyrant with firepower, but it was not to be. A brood of Genestealers quickly leapt upon the Eldar force, moving from squad to squad. In just a few furious moments, the Genestealers slew every Eldar, then jumped onto the Falcon as it swept by for a run on them. They ripped into the Falcon with their powerful claws, tearing its engine housings from its chassis, causing the vehicle to crash to the ground.
On Remas, the Eldar feel upon the Necrons, but had no more success than the Marines have had. They attacked a hive that had been taken by the Necrons, moving quickly to clear the Necrons from it. But the Necrons were prepared, and fired volley after volley into the Eldar force, leaving no Eldar alive and downing another of the Craftworld's Falcons.
Not pleased, the Eldar launched another attack, to get back the spirit stones of their fallen warriors. But they could still not beat the robotic warriors, who once again slew Eldar indiscriminately and left few survivors to flee the field of battle. It seems the Eldar decided to withdraw from any more assaults, until they could gain their bearing and come up with a better plan of attack.
This didn't take long. They went to Inis, when the Blue Knights chapter was training warriors for an assault on some alien worlds in an effort to aid their embattled brother Marines. The Marines were caught unawares as the Eldar launched a lightning assault on their academy, moving to the planning facilities and bunkrooms and destroying them with placed charges. The Blue Knights were forced from their academy.
Maldroui has been trying some new tricks, it seems. When the Dark Eldar launched a raid on Boris to grab some slaves, the Space Wolves were waiting. The resulting battle was a horrific bloodbath, with both sides suffering terrific casualties. It was also the first showing of the Dark Eldar Wyches, who accounted themselves well. They tore through two squads of Space Wolves, and even though they were bloodied badly they gave far worse than they got. The Dark Eldar seized the world's spaceport, and seem ready to convert it to their own dark purposes.
The Necrons seem like they can't get enough of Menel, and once again tried to take it back from the Dark Eldar. It was to no avail, as in the shadow of a massive hive the Dark Eldar gave the Necrons a tremendous beating. Maldroui and his retinue once again were the stars of the day for the Dark Eldar, wiping out two squads of Warriors. A lone Heavy Destroyer managed to survive vast amounts of firepower, and repaired itself numerous times. In the end, the Dark Eldar were the victors, though they had been hurt very badly as had the Necrons.
Hive Fleet Scylla decided to try its luck again, too, launching attacks from hidden regions of Menel. They were wiped out quickly by the Dark Eldar, but not before two Genestealers, in a freak bout of luck, managed to find weak spots in the armour of the Dark Eldar Talos and tear it down. Maldroui and his retinue really tore a hole in the Tyranid army, taking down a brood each of Warriors and Genestealers, and taking on two Hive Tyrants and two Zoanthropes and winning through against both.
The Ultramarines and Space Wolves are valiantly defending the sector, and still aren't getting along with each other. On Korval, the Ultramarines took on the Necrons in the ruins of some ancient city. Commander Morsius fought hard, winning through the skin of his teeth. The Necron Lord managed to tear apart many an Ultramarine unit, with far too many battle brothers having to be laid to rest afterwards due to the foul creature. Tactical Rhino III, aka "Treads of Light", attempted to overrun some Necrons to get into uncontested territory. They were too fast for the Necrons to land a solid shot, and many Necrons were run over by its treads. The day belonged to the Ultramarines, but at a heavy cost.
Morsius raced back to Corinth to personally lead an assault on the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Scylla who were still causing trouble. The Ultramarines were able to beat back the aliens, barely, as their vehicles survived through a lot of Tyranid firing to hold the field of battle. Tactical Brother Joseph was the star of the Ultramarines, sacrificing his life so that the vile Hive Tyrant could be cleansed with purifying bolter fire. The Ultramarines' plasma guns and missile launchers were less than amicable in their performance, and are to be destroyed as they are "impure beyond redemption".
Kalnar didn't like Morsius stepping on his territory, and decided to show up the Ultramarines by capturing their battle standard. Unfortunately, the Ultramarines were too angered by this to be pushovers, and once again gave the Space Wolves a hard lesson in who they believe to be the best of the Astartes. Kalnar, unpleased, returned to his base to sulk.
The Necrons took on Hive Fleet Ashibah again, as the Tyranids launched another attack on Lomm. The Stealers and Hormagaunts snuck up on the Necron Lord, but were unable to best him in hand to hand combat. The rest of the Tyranids were taken out by the firepower of a Warrior squad and the assault capabilities of a pair of Wraiths. The Necrons grabbed more ground on Lomm, and look to be sticking around.
Another player, the traitor Chaos Space Marines, have arrived in the sector, and picked a fight with Hive Fleet Scylla on the Chaos Marine's base world of Forntis. The champion of a traitor Marine squad valiantly fought off a Hive Tyrant and survived multiple warp blasts, but finally succumbed to the Tyrant after many blows were exchanged. The Tyranids overran the traitors, taking their academy, but the Chaos Marines simply moved to the ruins of a city that had been abandoned long ago.