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.

Luther's Finest: Behold the Thunder Dragons! *Fixed*

Finally, after a long period of delaying and procrastinating, I have completed 3/4ths of my Space Marines: The Thunder Dragons. In Total, I have roughly 80 Marines. I only have about 50 painted, and only 35 are present in the picture to the right.
I have names and ranks for them, I will fill out the list complete wit pictures when I finish my remaining Astartes.

Command Squad 'Praetorians'
Lord Hector Apophys
Honoured Brother Gabriel
Honoured Brother Jeremiel
Honoured Brother Michael
Honoured Brother Rafael

II Tactical Squad 'Lupus'
Brother Sergeant Dante
Brother Sirus
Brother Homer
Brother Desolae
Brother Klaus
Brother Yule 
Brother Enri  
Brother Maximillius  
Brother Yongir
Brother Augustus

III Devastator Squad 'Hades'              
Brother Sergeant Virgil           
 Brother Machiavelli                  
Brother Marx                              
Brother Ingles                                
Brother Ester                                      
Brother Vex                                       
Brother Jevai
Brother Karl                                        
Brother Hongirr                                

IV Tactical Squad 'Jericho'
Brother Sergeant Bismark
Brother Dale
Brother Uriel
Brother Lucifer
Brother David
Brother Mica
Brother Jevai
Brother Sammuel
Brother Gablia
Brother Delphos

Venerable Brother Solomon                                          
(Entombed M.36)    
                       
Predator Tank
(Cazador)       
                                
Land Speeder
(Esper)




The Fluff: Long ago in M.31 when the Lion ordered the Destruction of Caliban, A select few of Luther's followers were ordered to leave the planet and spread to the farthest reaches of Imperial Space to bring unite the true followers of the Emperor to be witness to the traitorous actions of the First Legion. Their Leader, Hector Apophys, acted as a shepherd to the lost flock that was now called "The Fallen", uniting them into a singular force that quickly vanished into the unknowns of space. It wasn't until M.38 in Abbadon's Ninth Black Crusade that an unknown Astartes Chapter was seen fighting alongside Imperial forces on Corillia against the traitor marines. These Astartes wore blood red power armour with white trim, white streaks in a warpaint fashion, and deep sea blue eye visors. In the field of battle these Astartes were fearless in their assaults on Abbadon's forces, often going to suicidal lengths to destroy their enemy. The only battle cries they cried were for a man named "Luther."
At the end of the crusade when Corillia was finally relieved by the Ultramarines, the Astartes vanished from the planet without a single trace of their being there.
In various conflicts following the Ninth Crusade, these same Red Warriors would appear and smite the enemies of the Imperium. It wasn't until M.40, when questioned by an Astartes from the Black Templars about their Origin that the a Red Warrior finally spoke to an outsider. "Who are you, Brother?" The Templar was said to ask.
To which the Thunder Dragon replied: "I am a Thunder Dragon, and I fight in the name of Truth and Revelation."
The Templar was confused. "Thunder Dragon? Who do you follow?"
The Thunder Dragon stood tall. "I serve the Emperor, and follow my Lord Hector."





 These are the two pictures I have. To the right is a picture of my 'Hades' squad. The front four marines are 2nd or 3rd edition marines courtesy of Colonel Scipio. The picture is a bit bright due to the flash, but you can just make out the detail on them. Each one has a purity seal on the right pauldron to help distinguish them from the rest of the squad.

My Chapter Master is equipped Artificer armour along with a Thunder Hammer. I wanted him to look more unique, so I used Grey Knight bits along with a Commander kit to formulate a special appearance. I trimmed him with gold and silver, and added a great many purity seals and other small trinkets that I feel really bring out the model. The banner to his left I hand painted, attempting to make a Watcher in the Dark holding a sword. Considering the freehand, I feel it turned out nicely. The man to his right is my Chapter Champion. I used a Deathwing shield and a Grey Knight sword to give the appearance of an old 14th Century knight. The two guys behind the Shield-Bearer and the Standard carrier are just holding Halbards, not finished painting at the time of this picture.


Anyway guys, hope you enjoyed the pictures and the fluff. Any questions, comments, or recommendations just leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Stay frosty out there!