Under the night sky of Valour IX, the shambling units of Pox Walkers shuffled forwards on the north and south flanks, each protecting a Plagueburst Crawler. A third Crawler sat in the middle, its ominous cannon ready to obliterate the foes. On the northern side of the Attrition line, a unit of Jakhals held back while a unit of Khorne Berserkers rode in a Rhino with Kharn the Betrayer. A Daemon Prince and a unit of Eightbound with an Exalted Eightbound held in Reserve.
#StevetheHuman had found intel that his Cadian Shock friends were in danger of wondering into an ambush along Chaos held lines, so he did what any good pal would do and convinced Illuminor Szeras to assist! Well, more that he creeped even him out with his flayer virus enough that he finally just gave up and followed him with a retinue to see what all the fuss was about, but it worked! The Necrons brought a full unit of Triarch Stalkers for support, with two units of Steve’s infected buddies. Orikan came along as well out of morbid curiosity as to what would a Flayed One so worked up. Their rear line was held by two units of Immortals as fire support, as well as three Cryptothralls.
The Cadian Shock actually had known of the ambush at the attrition line and came with a hard hitting line breaker force. A mighty Gorgon transporting a recently rejuvenated Lord Commissar, promoted for slaying multiple dark leaders of the Tzeentch variety (see Narrative Battle Report Cadian Shock vs Tzeentch Cultists vs Tau 500 Point Slow Grow) brought two units of Veterans with him. These Veterans were each armed with dual Las Pistols and Krak Grenades for a tough punch through melee. For fire support, a unit of ten Armoured Sentinels armed with Assault Cannons, Hunter Killer Missiles, and Chainsaws came up the middle, preparing to hammer and engage the enemy as soon as possible.
The Plagueburst Crawlers fired for effect, with one targeting the Sentinels and the other two attempting to hammer the Flayed Ones. The One that hit the Sentinels had excellent accuracy, but due to the cover of Night and the dispersion of the Sentinels was not able to do any damage. There were several good hits on the Flayed Ones, but the damage was minimal thanks to their enhanced Reanimation. The Rhino drove forwards, eager to get nearer to the foe!
Unfortunately for the Rhino and company, the forces of Chaos were not the only forces intent on getting into Melee. The full unit of Armoured Sentinels moved forward, firing their Assault Cannons into the Rhino! Rounds tore through the armour plating, and while it had decent protection, the sheer volume of ten Assault Cannons tore it to shreds. Kharn and his unit bailed out quickly, diving out as far back as they could before the hit the dirt. The Rhino smoldered, but did not explode as they had feared.
While the Immortals fired on the Jakhals, the Flayed Ones, Triarch Stalkers, and Gorgon all moved up the field, providing a solid wall of armour across the spearhead designed to break the Attrition line. What weapons that were available fired, only the Triarchs were able to injure one of their targets. Orikan’s predictions about the stars aligning were right, and he ascended to his ultimate form!
The Plagueburst Crawlers were ready for a more effective barrage, and as the new dawn broke, they fired another volley! Two of the rounds came in hard on the Sentinels, blasting through their extra layers of protection and destroying three of them! Another was lightly damaged. The unit failed the sheer volume of Pinning Tests (19 of them, but I made almost all of them somehow until Alex opened his mouth and jinxed me).
The next barrage hammered into the Flayed Ones, hitting 17 of them! They were able to Reanimate all but three however in an act of defiance!
The Daemonic units of Khorne that were held in Reserve arrived behind the Triarch Stalkers, threatening the back line with destruction.
The Triarch Stalkers moved back to combat this threat, firing into them but was only able to severely injure one of the Eightbound.
The Gorgon driver determined that the Heavy Stubbers were not going to damage the drones they were targeting, so he opted for speed of accuracy and revved the engine up near the red line and Advanced towards the Plagueburst Crawler. Its heavy Front Armour was going to be tough to deal with, but his massive tank had just the tool for that if he could get close enough.
The Daemon Prince of Khorne, blessed with the Pure Blessing of Khorne and gifted the terrifying Daemonic Blade, broke off from the unit and destroyed the Cryptothrall behind him! It was slain, but Reanimated.
As the Daemon Prince left, the Exalted Eightbound lead the Eightbound on a charge into the Triarch Stalkers! One was completely annihilated by the onslaught and a second one was heavily damaged! In turn they were able to kill of the injured Eightbound.
In a rare turn of events, Kharn and his unit were still having their ears ring from the micro explosions that happened as the Rhino was turned into swiss cheese. This cost them dearly, as they were not able to Declare the Charge that would have strongly assisted them in the upcoming grind of attrition that has never before been seen!
The Flayed Ones closed in, Charging them and annihilating them in an extreme flurry of Rending attacks!
The Cryptothrall was cut down before it could fight once again, only this time it did not Reanimate.
The Pox Walkers and remains of the Jakhals closed in and Charged the Flayed Ones! Despite suffering heavy losses, a lot of the Flayed Ones Reanimated, but several were turned into zombies as well and joined the ranks of Pox Walkers! The suits of skin being worn by the Flayed Ones animated, forcing the destroyed and broken machine bodies to shamble into line and continue fighting in a grotesque double use of an already slain foe!
The Armoured Sentinel crews were still ringing with shock and awe, and were not able to rally properly. They fired sporadic suppressive bursts of fire and were able to lightly damage the central Plagueburst Crawler.
While they poured fire at the enemy, the Flayed Ones continued their grim dual. Some would go down, then some would Reanimate as Flayed Ones, and others would animate as Pox Walkers! Slowly, their numbers dwindled on both sides.
The Gorgon surged forwards, but a line of shambling Pox Walkers had blocked off the Plagueburst Crawler. It disgorged its troops into battle! Both units of Veterans charged out, firing dual Laspistols as the Lord Commissar fired his Bolt Pistol. His Bolt Pistol was apparently not as trusty as his previous Boltgun had been, failing To Wound the target. A surprising lack of Pox Walkers were killed, so the Lord Commissar lead a gallant Charge against them, trying to clear a way for the Gorgon to get through. Neither side was able to harm each other. Daemonic protection and Flak Armour proving to be the most reliable armour in the universe!
The Gorgon attempted to Charge the drones, but was unable to make such a distance.
Wasting no time, the Plague Burst Crawlers fired again into the Sentinels. Many were hammered into pieces, with others left rocking on their agile legs from the concussive force! The Plagueburst Crawlers had yet to miss a single shot or even have one go off target!
The Drones closed in behind the Guardsmen, eager to use their threshers to taste the delectable humans. They slaughtered the unit in a blur of gore, and those that survived were turned into Pox Walkers before the Lord Commissars eyes! He struggled to get through their durable defenses, but slew one with his Power Sword. He held his ground. Even if his men were turned into daemonic traitors he would not do so himself!
The last of the Triarch Stalkers were broken and destroyed by the brutal onslaught of the Eightbound! Their zeal for destruction was unmatched and left them wanting even more! By this time another had been slain during the drawn out struggle.
In the other, even more drawn out struggle, a handful of Flayed Ones, Szeras, and Orikan fought against the cultists and their zombies. They turned their attention to the Jakhals and cut them down before they could continue to tear down Flayed Ones with chain weapons! Despite being wiped out, they had managed to do considerable damage. More Flayed Ones were killed, and just as many Pox Walkers had been slain joined the ranks again for the second time!
The Daemon Prince engaged and slew another Cryptothrall. It did not Reanimate.
The Gorgon’s engines roared to full again as the driver drifted it behind the drones as if it were in a high speed chase.
It crashed through the building, intent of bulldozing the drones before they could attack the Lord Commissar, but lost control of the tank and was unable to crush one of the flame weapons beneath its immense bulk (this was very disappointing, I spent the entire game racing it across the board and it failed to obliterate the drones with terrible rolls).
The Sentinels rallied again, firing in futile against the Crawler.
In the final moments of battle, only two Flayed Ones, Orikan, and Szeras remained against seven Pox Walkers. Both sides were unable to harm each other, and with the unit about to break apart, it was looking desperate for the Flayed Ones!
At this point in time, the break through was considered successful enough that the combined forces of Chaos withdrew back into the Warp or safely behind enemy lines before their artillery could be destroyed.
Cadian Shock and Necrons win 6 to 4 with a Minor Victory!
Alternate 40k Rules 