Battle of Charger Pass pt. 2

Over a year ago, I posted the first part of the first major tank battle of the Arrakian Campaign.  Here is the prelude to the battle.

Fountains of dirt erupted aroundthe front vehicles of the ork column.  The leading battlewagon was disabled, though the turret was operational.  Warbuggies and Wartrakks pass by to continue up the valley road.  Buried mines activate and destroy them.

A silhouette of a turret was spotted over the top of a nearby hill as it rotated.  It fired at a trukk close to the front.  The resultant explosion send ork pieces and shrapnel flying in all directions. A nearby trukk had its tires shredded, and the blast pressure toppled it.
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"Scratch two ruskets," Lieutenant Taylor stated.  While the driver and sponson operators cheered, the turret gunner loaded another AP shell.  Taylor looked back through the periscope.

Fire and dirt obscured his view.  The sound of the explosion drowned out all noise from inside the tank; even people talking over the headphone couldn't be heard.  When his view was cleared, Taylor saw the main gun on the disabled battlewagon aimed at them.

"Gabby!  Two-point-five degrees left, minus fifteen degrees azimuth." The hand-crank was used to rotate the turret and another adjust the vertical.  Two beeps alerted Taylor it was ready to fire.  He clicked the talk toggle in response.  The recoil from the gun shook the entire tank.

Their target exploded with such that the turret flew off of the vehicle.  Another trukk close by lost its driver when the barrel of the flying turret smashed into it.  The battlewagon was engulfed in a fierce fire.

Shells rained down around their Leman Russ, the WyrmSlayer, but only a few came close to hitting.  Battle cannons lobbed shots over from the hills on the other side of the highway.  The orks tried to leave the way they came, but their retreat was blocked by the arrival of a company of Malcador Heavy Tanks.  Leading them were the three Thunder Dragons' Predators.

A volley of fire launched from the flanking attack.  Vehicles at the rear of the ork column were torn apart.  This stopped the greenskins from moving.  At the same time, Captain Kaga called in an airstrike.  Marauder Bombers streaked in and unloaded their payload.
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Ork tanks that were destroyed pulled out to either side of the road.  A Fire Prism rolled past the first line of hills on the tracks salvaged from a Baneblade.  Prism Cannon aimed quickly and killed a Russ in one shot.  After it cleared the way, buggies and trakks zoomed ahead.
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 WyrmSlayer was already taking aim at the orkified tank.  Signal gave, and the shot was fired.  The shot went wide; slamming into the ground some ways away.  "Ken, get us out of here," Taylor yelled.

Back in the periscope, the enemy moved behind while elevating its main gun to hit them in the rear.  With a jerk, the tank ran towards the tank.  Taylor's face bashed into the viewer.  It happened again when the Russ impacted the Prism.  An energy beam was heard firing overhead.

Things went tilted as the tank went forward and over the side of the hill.
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A round zoomed right below the main cannon of the Prism from behind.  The Prism turned around; the Malcador was running full speed at it.  An energy beam reached out; a sizable portion of the tread was blasted off.  The rest of it fell off, halting the Malcador.

Its muzzle blasted another shell.  The impact was against the side of the turret, but the shell bounced off and exploded some distance away.  Another impact, and subsequent explosion, rocked the tank.  But, the shot failed to penetrate the hull.

A second beam hit the underside of the Malcador's turret, and blasted it off.  The vehicle was engulfed in flames.  A second explosion soon tore apart the rest of it.

With that, the cannon on the Fire Prism rotated as the vehicle turned.  A Leman Russ was backing out of its pit, and another shot came out.  It struck the hill off to the side.  The Prism retaliated with shots of its own.  Multilas secondary guns shot off the front-mounted lascannon, while the main gun melted the gears for the treads.

Engines roared as it sped by the disabled enemy.  The Prism ran over the burning husk of a warbuggy, and back onto the highway.  Its turret tracked the movement of WrymSlayer up ahead.  Two shots later, and the Leman Russ was set ablaze.

A woman hopped out of the cupola, and ran for cover.  The multilas gunner ended her flight.  At the bellowing of the Tank Nob, the vehicle roared on as its fastest speed.

It only stopped at the sight of a mighty Baneblade, Hammer Against The Horde.  All weapons on the beast of a machine quickly trained on the Fire Prism and unleashed the barrage.  The orks inside their looted tank never had a chance to return fire.
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The ambush of the ork armoured column worked out better than the Captain had planned.  While the brunt of the greenskin's armoured might was stymied; it was not without great cost.  Of the thirty Malcadors sent in to box the orks in, only twelve survived the attack.  Fifty-four Leman Russes and over 600 Guardsmen lost their lives.

An estimated 180 ork vehicles and over 9,000 greenskins were killed.

BATTLE SCENARIO: Eden Prime

Systems Alliance Objective: Protect the beacon.

Enemy Assets:

• Unknown number of Geth.  Estimates place them between 1,000 to 6,000 mobile platforms.
• Intelligence resources of the SPECTRE office via Saren Arterius.
• Sovereign, a 2 km tall Reaper.

Friendly Assets:

• Unknown number of Alliance marines.  Estimates equate their numbers in the area to around the same as the Geth.
• Team of commandos lead by an N7 agent and a SPECTRE, Nihilus.
• Normandy SR-1, a stealth frigate.

History:

• Archeologists uncover a working Prothean beacon.  The Systems Alliance is informed who, in turn, inform the Citadel Council.
• Saren Arterius learns of this from his position as a SPECTRE.  He tells Sovereign, and gathers a task force of Geth.
• Upon entering the Utopia system, comm buoys are destroyed.  The colony is attacked in complete surprise.  Geth landed via shuttle, ambushing squads near the beacon and secure the area.
• The Normandy SR-1 exits the Mass Relay station with stealth systems engaged.  They pick up emergency transmissions from the planet showing the fighting.
• Normandy lands a commando team who head to the beacon at the cost of a marine and Nihilus.
• Saren uses the beacon, and orders bomb set up to destroy it.  He leaves shortly afterwards back to Sovereign.
• The commando team defuse the bomb and the leader also uses the beacon.  It blows up right after that.

 Could the Imperial Guard succeed where the Systems Alliance failed?

• First, we must define their assets.  Systems Alliance marines are replaced with PDF troopers and their full array of ground equipment.
• This includes armoured vehicles and artillery.
• The planet is replaced with an Imperial world of similar importance.  It has multiple deep space augurs in orbit.
• The Normandy and her crew are replaced with a small Imperial frigate and an Inquisitor with acolytes.
• The augur stations in space will give advanced warning of Sovereign's approach, allowing for the troopers groundside to not be caught unawares.
• Since Geth protection is optimized against kinetic impactors they will prove easier for the lasguns to kill than Necrons.  Their lack of armour will also be a hindrance against the Leman Russ tanks or even the Chimera-based light tanks of the Guard.
• Needless to say, if the Geth don't reach the beacon in the opening stages of their landing, they will not get to it.  The PDF could hold them long enough for the Inquisitor to retrieve the beacon and leave.

How would the Imperial Guard fare in place of the Geth?

• First, we must define their assets.  Geth are replaced with Guardsman, Saren with an Inquisitor, and Sovereign with a transport ship.
• Comms buoys are destroyed (just like in the original battle) during the ship's approach.
• The landing would be conducted with wings of Valkyries.  This ensures they can land wherever they want, and have close-in aerial support for their assault.
• Their rapid insertion guarantees their ability to secure the beacon.
• After the Inquisitor uses it, they can use the Valkyries to withdraw to orbit.  Then, the orbiting ship would conduct an Exterminatus on the site to destroy the beacon and anyone in the area.  This ensures nobody else could use it, and might cover their trail.

Conclusions:  Their particle weapons make things easier for the infantry to dominate their counterparts; and their combined-arms tactics make it easier to achieve their objective, no matter which side they're on.  The early warning system in orbit will make sure they aren't surprised by the attack, and the ability for rapid insertion and rapid relocation is their best weapon on the attack.

I give the Imperial Guard 2 for 2 points for this scenario.

Battle of Charger Pass Pt. 1

Planet: Arrakia
Location: 170 km northeast of Leton City; 15 km away from Dusse Port

A week after Leton City fell to a surprise attack of Black Legion and ork auxiliaries, the last vestige of still-loyal citizens was decimated.  The PDF on the planet were still reeling, and unable to effectively coordinate a counter-attack.  This opportunity was seized by the ork forces who fractured into individual warbands.  They started reeking havoc across the main habitat region between the Sawtooth Mountains out west and the east coast of the Wave Dune Ocean.
By the time an encircling army was finally able to contain the enemy to the capitol, the orks had spread beyond the local area.  The most immediate ork concerns for the defenders was a massive horde of greenskins headed north to where the Field Marshall's last known position.  The Thunder Dragons send a force up north to lead the regional PDF in intercepting them.
They risked the only five Predators their chapter still had to eliminate the main ork assault estimated to contain close to 300 tanks.  Captain Kaga of the 4th Company decided the best course of action was to set an ambush at Charger Pass along the stretch of Leto Highway.

The dust plumes rose high above the stretches of the Red Mane Plains.  Through the rangefinders, the Thunder Dragons' three Predator tanks (Prophet of Truth, Prophet of Mercy, and Prophet of Regret) spotted the bikers ahead of the battlegroup.  "Regret, begin the attack," the commander of Truth stated.
Regret was the only Annihilator-pattern tank the chapter possessed armed with sponson-mounted lascannons.  It roared towards the highway the orks were using.  Constant adjustments to their targeters ensured that they were ready to fire as the tank slid to a stop over a kilometer away from the road.
As soon as the bikes were within range, autocannons opened fire followed by a salvo of energy bolts.  Three of the four shots hit true; the bikers raced off the pavement in pursuit.  Regret moved back while the guns continued to blast away; more bikes exploding along the way.
Now in range, the other two fired their autocannons.  When the orks got close enough, the heavy bolters started shooting as well.  Regret passed the others and turned around.  Its guns swivelled around to continue their barrage.  Mercy and Truth proceeded to follow whilst keeping the autocannons trained on the bikers.  Unfortunately for Mercy, orks caught up with it and started pounding the treads and sides of the tank.  One nob armed with a power klaw snapped the support for one of the heavy bolter sponsons.  It was quickly forgotten in the chase.
Back at the highway, smoke screen provided by the bikes dissipated.  A massive armoured column of ork tanks rolled out of the dust cloud.  They barrelled on ahead even as the road became a valley in a dense region of hills.  An explosion on the underside of the lead tank took them by surprise.  Shots boomed from the surrounding hillsides and plumes of flame and dirt leapt up all around them.
Cries of WAAAAGH!!! were drowned out by the volley by explosions in their midst.  The orks started wildly firing their guns every-which-way they could.  Thus, the first major armoured battle of the Arrakian Campaign began.

Raid over Velch

Segmentum Tempestus 997.M41

System: Harkonnen IV; Planet: Arrakia

Location: Air Camp Velch

The men of the 59^th Estrucian Air Regiment were twenty minutes into their dinner when the sirens loudly sounded. Every pilot bolted out of the mess hall to get across the strip. By the time Tarquin got to his assigned hangar, the rest of his airwing was at their lockers getting into their suits. He ripped off his clothes as he got close.

Hydra flak batteries unleashed their ordnance at the approaching planes. Tarquin only became distracted by the battle when a flaming piece of wreckage smashed into the airstrip outside the hangar doors and slid down the runway. “Air Wing Zeri, mount up! Command decreed we're first in the air. Rookie, zip up; you're with me this fight!” Lt. Commander Scarpia announced before running to the plane.

“Aye Commander,” Tarquin replied. He finished getting in his suit, and dashed to the remaining Lightning. They quickly went through the start-up routine as autocannon fire sounded above their heads. Tarquin closed his canopy and pushed the stick forward. They flared their engines after straightening out on the runway. Hell Blades flew at them with guns blazing. Shots hit Tarquin's plane as it lunged forward.

Fireballs and bursts of autocannon fire lit up the night sky. A nearby flak tank exploded. The race down the runway felt like an eternity to Tarquin. More shells pounded their planes as they lifted off. Scarpia hit the afterburners and let loose with her own autocannon. The rest of Veri Wing followed suit.

Hell Blades flew by so close that Tarquin's cockpit shook in response. “Air Wing Veri, break off and engage at will!” Scarpia ordered. The other six pilots went in different directions, forming their own pairs. Tarquin followed the wing leader into a steep climb. They levelled off seconds later and turned back to the base. Many of the buildings burned brightly, giving the location of any plane flying near it. “I found a nice fat target. Rookie, follow me!” Scarpia proclaimed joyously.

They inverted and dove before flipping the planes back upright. Wind roared past the canopy as they picked up speed. Scarpia levelled out behind a small group of eight. A short burst from the autocannon tore the wing off one of the planes, causing it to fly into another Hell Blade alongside it. The rest scattered while taking additional casualties. Scarpia turned in pursuit of the larger clump. Two of them made a sharp turn right, but the third split left. “Go get him rookie!”

Tarquin made a turning climb left. He got into his opponent's turn radius and fired a volley of autocannon shells. But, the Hell Blade jinked to the right, levelling itself. Tarquin copied the maneuver, but overshot the exit. He flung the plane to the left as the enemy turned to get behind him. They weaved back and forth until the enemy turned wider left than normal. A tight turn brought Tarquin on his tail. Two lascannon bolts struck the engines, and the Hell Blade exploded.

Tarquin consulted his radar to find that Scarpia was being pursued by two enemies while she was chasing three more.

An inverted split-S dive built up speed for him as Tarquin raced to protect his wing leader. He approach them diagonally; but when he fired at the tail group, the lead planes made a climbing right turn into his line of fire. One of them took a few shots before dropping out of the sky. Tarquin unleashed another lascannon volley at the tailing enemies. One turned into a ball of flame, and the other went into a vertical climb.

Tarquin went up in pursuit. The opponent dived before he could take a shot, so Tarquin headed into a rolling dive. They both got uncomfortably close to the ground before zooming back up in a climb. Each cycle grew longer as each climb reached a higher peak. On the seventh pass, the Lightning was nearing its ceiling. The stall warning blared as Tarquin nosed the plane over. In the second before the dive began, he witnessed the Hell Blade fall tail-first. After plummeting a few feet, it entered an uncontrolled spiral. Tarquin stomped the air brakes and aligned himself above the opponent. A hail of autocannon shells tore apart the fuselage and eventually caused the plane to explode.

Tarquin dove back down to his squadmates and levelled off when the vox sounded, “All air wings, break off pursuit. Those interceptors are too fast to catch. Return to base and refuel.”

“Hey rookie, how many did you scratch?”

“Only four, ma'am; only four,” Tarquin responded as he headed back to the base.

WiP: Rasleigh's Raiders

So, I was sitting in my room eating mushroom and cheese Stromboli and watching Reign of Fire when an idea came into my head. I need storm troopers, I said to myself. So I looked them up and decided: wow that model looks stupid. I need an alternative. I need the Death Korps of Krieg. But how would I use them? Would I deploy as regular storm troopers, or give them a title? After brainstorming for about half an hour, Rasleigh's Raiders were born. They will be a squad of the Vatarian Marine Corps. I'll deliver full fluff for them once I finish the entire squad, I've got it written down, I just want to finish what I've got.

Not long after, my Krieg gentlemen came in the post, finally. Fun little fact about Krieg: the resin on the sprues is thicker than that on the actual model. This had led to many a broken foot, rifle, rifle stock, grenades, etc. nothing horrible, all was reglued with some effort on my part. It was quite irksome though. Painting the Krieg troopers wasn't so bad and except for a few nooks and crannies an even still a decent paint job was administered without much effort.

I only have a few pictures and they weren't taken with the best quality. I will try to get better quality pictures soon, hopefully tonight since it will be another warhammer thursday match.

While painting I wondered what would I expect a Vatarian marine to wear. Originally, it was going to be a grey coat with black trim and whatnot but then I realised: I'd be making a WWII German SS squad. So I went into brainstorming mode and doodled a few paint schemes. I thought maybe red with a white trim, but I thought it looked too much like English regulars from the 1700's. I did decide I liked the white on the model because it projected the opposite of a death Korps trooper. (The further it resembles the better) and I decided that since marines would traditionally be attached to a naval vessel , I gave them a blue overcoat with black boots and helmet. I made the mask nothing special, just a fray mask with a white hose. The overall effect, in my eyes, presented a professional, military shock force. I can't wait to see what that look like once they're all painted.

Tyranid Invasion: Part 1

In the hills and valleys of the planer Maracha, a small imperial outpost has been targeted by a massize Tyranid swarm. In response, segmentum command has deployed an entire army group. Two Space Marine chapters, the Fifth Founding and the Stalkers, along with the XII Vatarian Legion with elements of the VII Legion were all marching into battle side by side. A small force of Necrons had also awoken due to do the activity of the swarm, and were reanimating to do battle against this alien threat.

Not long after Necron reanimating, a warband of renegade space marines made planetfall soon after to do battle with the worthy Tyranid foe. This would be a battle of epic proportions.

This was a massive 3500 v 3500 point game. The foe would be a swarm that had an 'old one-eye' as an HQ unit. On the allied side, I had my Knight-Commander Zaros, The VII Vatarian had Knight-Commander Antoch, the Fifth Founding had a librarian, and the Stalkers had a Captain. The Chaos with Necron allies had a chaos lord as their HQ. Allied deployment looked something like this: 

Enemy deployment: 

Turn One -Enemy

Our opponent began his turn by burrowing the thing that can burrow. (little note here: I'm horrible with Tyranid units so I'm very sorry if I offend any Tyranid players with my lack of knowledge) he ran all of his units forward and took flight with a gargoyle (I think). This turn he focused on nothing but closing the distance between our forces.

The flying thing:

The burrowing thing:

Turn one -Allies

Our deployment plan was simple: Move up behind the armour and use it as mobile cover/fire support. My tanks and chimeras were to roll up in front of the main line with the Space Marine infantry and VII guard not far behind. The right flank was to be dominated by first and second platoon supported by bikes and land speeders from the Fifth Founding. A sniper team from the Stalkers chapter was holding the imperial bunker on our side of the field, and would use its superior line of sight to spot and eliminate targets in the valley below. The Necrons and Chaos marines were to move up on the centre and provide support to which ever flank needed it. 

Shooting Phase: Allies

To begin, the sniper team from the Stalkers fired a single Krak missle at the flying thing that was flying over the centre building. As if the emperor himself had willed it, the great beast fell and took another point of damage. With only one point remaining, I fired my demolisher's Lascannon along with the order Bring it Down at it and killed it with the second shot. The humour in it was that because it was flying, the rocket that took it down should've missed. The Tyranid player had intended to use it as a bullet sponge, and now he was forced to change his strategy. I fired my other tank's (at the time it was unnamed) Lascannon at Old one-eye and managed to score a wound. So far, the hammer of the emperor was doing its fair bit.

The flying thing being removed from play:

Allied forces advancing: 

From his position in the rocks, Zaros caught glimpse of a monstrous beast flailing toward the ground. On the Vox, he heard that a Marine scout team had scored an incredibly lucky hit against the monster, and that it was crippled on the ground. "Knight-Commander to Armour, do you have a firing solution on that grounded beast?" There was a short delay followed by an incredibly hoarse voice. "Commander this is Sergeant Zale of the Tora. We only have a solution with the hull mounted Lascannon. Orders to fire?" Zaros assessed the situation quickly. "Affirmative Zale, Bring. It. Down." A bright light filled the air followed quickly by another one. Zaros couldn't see the shooter or what it was shooting at, but he could tell by the great screeching roar that it had scored a hit. His Vox rang with an incoming message. "Zale here sir, the beast is dead."

Turn Two -Enemy

Our enemy was not very happy with the turn of events, he ran most of his units again, trying to get closer and closer. The unpleasantness started when he tried to deep strike gene stealers. However, they went off the board in a deep strike mishap. He then deep struck a doom of m-something. For people who do not know, it has a 3+ save, along with the ability to gain wounds by how many enemies it kills. So when it killed ten men from first platoon, it gained ten wounds. To make matters much much worse, he unleashed the borrowing thing right under the front of my armoured column. One of the tanks was damaged along with one of the chimeras. A third chimera was outright destroyed. The veterans inside of it escaped with only five of their ten man squad plus a priest. He tried firing a biovare thingy (the biological artillery for the bugs) at my tanks, but managed to hit his own burrowing thingy. That was very convenient for me. Although, truth be told I felt incredibly singled out because he was only firing on my men. (In hindsight, I did bring the most to the field...) 

The doom of m-thing beside the speeder:

The burrowing thing attacking me: 

Sergeant Zale was moving the Demolisher at cruising speed when everything began to shake violently. The Tora was thrown forward several feet and came to a grinding halt. "By the throne what was that?" From the rear view hatch, Zale could only see a plume of smoke and dust. The Vox crackled to life not long after. "We've taken rear damage, but otherwise okay." "Does anyone see the other chimera?" Zale peered hard through the huge cloud of debris and could only see one thing. A massive Tyranid borrower had come up right on top of the rear chimera. 

Turn Two -Allied

This point in the game things were hectic. The allied SM chapters were rushing to try and move up to the forward battle, and the chaos/Necron forces were a too far ahead to properly cover the Tyranids that had attacked from the rear. Fontaine and his men disembarked their chimera and were preparing to melta the burrowing beast. First platoon regrouped and got closer to the doom of m-thing. 

Shooting phase -Allied

I used FRFSRF on the first platoon. Fourty two Lasguns, three las pistols, two bolt pistols, a Krak missle, and two auto cannons were unleashed on the doom of M-thing. Only two hits managed to hit because of its blasted 3+ save. Fontaine and his vets fired their Lasguns and meltas at the borrower. Managed to score two hits as well. It was not going well. My allies fired their weapons in an attempt to stop the Tyranid monstrous creatures, but to no avail. My Demolisher tank fired at old one eye and managed to score a hit. My battle tank (earns the name 'stomper' after this battle) fires its main gun and kills thirteen bugs out of fourteen.

Fontaine and his squad preparing to fire:

First platoon firing on the doom of M-ting:

The unfortunate part

It was about midnight at this point, and we had to leave our local gaming store. (We got kicks out)

We rolled die to see who would win. The opponent rolled a six, we rolled a four. Even though we had more kill points, he won.

We are hopefully going to have a rematch this Thursday so be looking for a continuation of what was going on. I'm sad because it was such a short game, but with so many units each turn took a while. My lesson learned this time around was this: Work closely with your allies.

Vatarian XII: Meet Sergeant Fontaine

    Gunnery Sergeant Fontaine is veteran of both previous crusades and a no-nonsense squad leader. He has walked away from brutal ambushes and deadly firefights, often as the sole survivor of his unit. This has given him a reputation of being unlucky to be around and as a result most units who serve under him tend to be extremely cautious of their surroundings. He and his unit often act as forward sentries; moving ahead of the main force and equipped with snare mines and camo cloaks.
This combined with Fonraine's knowledge of guerrilla warfare makes the squad a lethal and hard to kill force.

Before he joined the Vatarian Guard, Fontaine was a professional fighter on Vatar. Never losing a single fight made him into a symbol of imperial might and once he answered the call of the guard, it was like a hero joining the ranks. The younger guardsmen looked up to him as an idol and symbol of what an imperial soldier should be.

Blood Angels vs Vatarian Guard: Round 1 Part 5 (Finale)

Turn Five
It was crunch time. My ally moved up her terminators and tore the infantry squad with the objective apart. My vets used their meltas and fried the chimera that had delivered the enemy squad. I got into range to use my psyker's lightening arc against the assault marines and the one time I finally use it and it suffers a Perils of the Warp attack, Killing it outright. The Tora fired its Demolisher cannon and killed off the rest of the assault marines. My remaining chimera opens fire on a scout squad and kills one.

The poor squad that were torn apart by terminator Bolter fire

From his position, Knight-Commander Zaros could see the allied terminators moving up against the Blood Angel's guardsmen that had secured the disc. When they opened fire, the men around the disc disappeared into a red mist. On the left flank about thirty metres out, the chimera that had dropped the enemy off was illuminated briefly as it turned into a pile of molten metal. He scanned his perimeter and noticed a new shell crater with assault marines scattered around it. A hush fell over the battlefield as the Blood Angels began pulling back.

Luckily for me it was around 22:30 and my opponent had to leave. He submitted and we shook hands and agreed to have a rematch. It was a fun game, not too demanding and it kept me on my toes. The lesson I learned from this game is defiantly don't underestimate the cover saves an aegis defence line can give you. A would also like to thank my ally, without her it would've been a bad time with those hostile speeders.

Blood Angels vs Vatarian Guard: Round 1 Part 3

"Out of the machine men! Move!" First squad of second platoon rushed out of the rear access hatch of their chimera. The sergeant was rushing his men forward in an attempt to relieve Fontaine and his men. The sergeant looked to his rear after hearing a commanding voice. The voice was calling for the chimera to fire on his target, but it was too muffled by the sounds of war to get through to the APC commander. To his left, he heard a massive boom and saw a flume of flame and smoke. One of his troopers was heard screaming "The tank got a kill!" He squinted through the haze of the rising sun and saw a large plume of smoke rising from a hostile chimera.

Turn Two -Hostiles (AKA Hurt Time)
      My opponent was not very happy about the loss of one of his vehicles. He fired a las cannon at my Tank, scoring a glancing hit. Sniper fire from behind his lines cut my second platoon's forst squad to nothing, and then he proceeded to fire his land speeder's assault cannons at my command squad effectively eliminating all but my Primaris Psyker and my commander. If that wasn't enough, he deepstriked with his assault marines with a priest and a librarian. My first platoon got roasted by his flamers and bolt pistols, effectivly cutting down the entire unit to less than half it's twenty five man strength. He also deployed a Marbo Unit to my ally's scout/sniper position and threw a demolition charge. No scouts were harmed.

                                          

 

Vatarian XII: Meet Knight-Commander Zaros

Knight-Commander Zaros

     Knight-Commander Zaros is the the third Commander of the XII legion. He has been in the Imperial guard since he was 17 years old and served honourably in the infantry, and later on, the Vatarian Special Forces. He was awarded the Valoris Imperatora for his lengthy service throughout his life. He retired at the age of 50, as required by the Vatarian command for all frontline personnel, and was given a position at the Vatarian military Academy. He taught a majority of the officers who currently serve in the Vatarian Guard and is considered a highly professional leader and strategist. 

      Throughout his career, Zaros has earned many awards and medals for his lengthy service in the Vatarian Guard. He earned the Vatarian Ferro Cornu. The Steel Wing. This was earned for his unit's combat jump with the Cadian 76th Light Infantry against an Ork encroachment in a nearby system. He has earned numerous citations for Bravery and courage in combat. He has four Aquilla Mundanis medals and even a Knight of Vatar medal. It is a medal that exlemprifies an officer for high standards and extreme service. No other man is suited to lead the Legion like him.

Maracha: A Brief History

      Maracha is a desert world that is spotted with various sizes of oasis'. The only city on the planet has completely fallen under chaos influence and the valuable promethium refineries that dot the surface have come under the control of various chaos cults. These cults have converted most of the population to the dark gods and killed all those who opposed them.

      The desert that covers the world is incredibly harsh, and the few bits of life that exist are incredibly vicious predators. Things like giant sand spiders, Burrowing worms, and Leark hawks constantly stalk anything that moves in hopes that they will get another meal. Luckily, these beasts are repelled by liquid water, and once a creature nears an oasis it may rest easy from the perils of the
desert.

History: Vatarian XII

      The XII Vatarian Legion is from a medium sized hive world called Vatar. Vatar is in a system only a few light years away from Cadia, so chaos is a major threat that is faced. (More so now thanks to the 13th Black Crusade) The Legion is under the command of Knight-Commander Zaros (equivalent of a colonel), who used to be an instructor at the Vatarian military academy until the call to arms came from the Planetary Governor. He is the third Knight-Commander of the Legion, and has trained most of his officers personally.
      The Legion's number one method of filling its ranks is drafting all Vatarian males by the solar age of 17. Officers are taken from Vatar's high class officials, and are often well connected with the local political families in the city in which they are recruited. The training for the legion is a one year period in which troopers familiarise themselves with the equipment of the guard. Las guns, las pistols, chainswords, grenades, and basic heavy weapon maintenance are part of the training, as well as close combat drills and assault training. Each trooper is expected to find a field in which he excels and perfect himself in it. This leads to professional unit organisation within each platoon and company. 
      The XII legion has fought in two major crusades since its formation. The Demovolan Crusade against the Orks on the death world of Demovola and the Thyros crusade rooting out chaos in the hives of Thyro. The Legion briefly fought against the blood angels on Vatar itself due to a confusion from segmentum command. This led to the first Knight-Commander, Relio, to be forcefully retired after being shot with a heavy Bolter round in the back. They are currently engaged in a Crusage against Chaos and Orks on the desert world of Maracha alongside the VII and III Vatarian Legions. They have entered the Marachan Crusade.

Finally Starting

      Well, here it is. My blog is finally moving forward. This will be a primarily Warhammer 40k blog, so it'll be full of images, battle reports, fluff, etc. I ask that whoever follows it In the future to be patient because I've got to figure all this stuff out.