The Deathwatch Captain looked over the holotable in the High Command Room. Valour Korp had their top brass present, as well as several representatives from Cadia and Armageddon. He could smell the sweat from the fear of many of the assembled leadership, and rightly so. In front of him was a large switch board, each switch with a bright red light above them. Cadia and managed to unearth a monumental weapon during their hasty withdrawal. The Leviathan Regimental HQ.
No one present was trained on this weapon, or personally knew of its tactical capabilities. They spent time in transit to the Valour System training on its operations and secondary weapons, but the Doomsday Cannon remained unconfirmed. Tech Priests from Mars had already given it a confirmation to be operational, but their pride could be the downfall of the entire system.
The Deathwatch had been contacted to lead a raid on Asteroid Base 74. With the Orks and Tyranids still in conflict in the belt, they slipped in undercover of the battles and kidnapped life forms from the Tyranids for study by the Inquisition to determine what splinter fleet or fleets they were dealing with. The tests had already been run, with questions of what to do about a captured Swarmlord when the Leviathan test came up.
Each life form was fitted with a neural bomb. Multiple fail safes were in place to ensure at worse accidental detonation as opposed to a dud. They were a threat to keep captive at this point anyways, and powerful weapons needed to be tested.
Knight Commander Pask personally was over seeing the test. As the foremost expert in Imperial Guard Armoured Cavalry, he was determined to be the leading expert in assessing the command tank’s status and capabilities. A large basin was selected to contain any nuclear blast if the reactor went critical and the Tyranids moved while sedated. The Tyranids were staged in two main assault groups. The Swarmlord was placed with the Stonecrusher Carnifexes, and Old One Eye was placed with a unit of standard Carnifexes. A Scythed Hierodule accompanied the Stonecrushers by proximity and some lesser life forms with a Tervigon held the back line.
Pask Deployed the Leviathan in the middle, where the Attrition style deployment allowed it room for distance and to rack incoming enemy with its many secondary weapons. Two units of volunteer Veterans operated the back of the tank on its fighting deck for security purposes while Pask deployed on its right for observation and assisting fire support in his Punisher Leman Russ.
The Swarmlord woke suddenly, much earlier than it should have, leading the horde straight for the Leviathan. The Deathwatch Captain made a note, as did the Inquisitor, that the serum was not strong enough but also that the Swarmlord could suppress the forces under its control despite their primitive instincts. Two units of Hormagaunts landed from the sky in bloated pods that burst open ichor and horrors on impact, one for each side of the Leviathan! That these forces were already in place for reinforcements meant that being unconscious did not render the Swarmlord inoperable and that there was an enemy ship lurking behind the moon. A fleet conducting training operations in orbit was immediately rerouted to deal with this threat.
The Leviathan shifted slightly, its ponderous bulk causing small avalanches on the walls of the basin they were fighting in. The Swarmlord was caught by surprise, taking a Mega Battle Cannon round to the chest. Its psychic shielding failed it, but the impacting round blew it out of the way of the glowing light on the moving bunker. The blinding light flared with a screaming sound caused by rock evaporating that made every life form within miles cringe! A very unlucky Stonecrusher disappeared, a black outline fifty meters away being all that remained. As the unit reeled back from the power of the weapon, a pair of antiair missiles slammed in around them as well as a pair of Lascannons and Heavy Bolters. With one Stonecrusher down, another injured, and the Swarmlord nearly dead, it was indeed looking bleak for the Tyranids.
The left side of the Leviathan was not quiet either. Four Heavy Bolters poured fire into the Hormagaunts that fell into their kill arc. Another two Heavy Bolters, six Lascannons, and two antiair missiles fired at the Carnifexes, injuring one severely.
Pask supplemented the fire support on the right with his Punisher Cannon, three Heavy Bolters, and Heavy Stubber finishing off the second Stonecrusher. The Veterans poured fire with multiple orders and supporting tactical data from the Leviathan into the horde on the right, wiping them off the field in support of the four Heavy Bolters that pounded their position on that side.
The Swarmlord rallied its horde and made a beeline to the Leviathan. The Stonecrushers and Swarmlord ducked underneath the miniature sun lobbed overhead and crashed into the command tank. Despite its massive bulk, few things can withstand Stonecrushers on the Charge. This was further supplemented by the Scythed Hierodule. They were inside the Void Shield, its last line of defense. The front of the tank suffered massive impact damage, with the sprockets crushed fully immobilizing the tank. It pushed back as it suffered mechanical failure, further injuring the Swarmlord. With the systems and crew being overwhelmed, it began to lose structural integrity.
The Deathwatch Captain hesitated, his fingers on the kill switches. The simulation was going as expected if the enemy got within melee range, but was doing more damage to the venerable engine of war than he cared for. They did need to know what it could handle, and they had no more adequate tests subjects, so he held off for now.
The Carnifexes came in closer, but still out of reach of smashing the warmachine to pieces. More Gaunts rained from above, the fleet action not slated to take it out in time for this to resolve itself. Based off of the few numbers, it was not an immediate threat.
Commander Pask Issued Scratch My Back to the gunners, who promptly mowed down the Swarmlord and critically injured the third Stonecrusher. The side Heavy Bolters and Veterans did the same work as before, keeping the Gaunts away from the tank. Two antiair missiles, Lascannons, and Heavy Bolters hit the remaining Stonecrusher but could not quite kill the beast.
The left side six Lascannons, two antiair missiles, and two Heavy Bolters heavily inured a Carnifex but could not slay it. Old One Eye took the next Mega Battle Cannon shell to the chest and was blasted into the ground as it gave out before it tough exterior did. Despite this, it was nearly slain. The Doomsday Cannon recalibrated and fired, vaporizing the unit of Gaunts holding a rear objective in a mushroom cloud. The Tervigon was seared by the powerful blast but dragged its ruined leg away from the molten crater that was once solid ground.
The enemy monsters continued to damage the command tank, ripping track sections off and starting to climb on top of it! It was looking hopeless, but the command tank was not irreparable just yet.
The Carnifex Brood was able to make the last distance and charge the Leviathan. The master kill switch was thrown and all remaining life forms except for a few stragglers that arrived by pod dropped instantly to the ground. Had this continued the Leviathan would have been overrun and Pask would have fallen with them based on tactical data obtained during the simulation.
The Tech Priests screamed in binary fury and immediately began ordering the repair teams to go in. One flapped the Captain, screeched a string of binary that sounded extra angry, and than proceeded to go work on the tank.
Tyranids win 7vP to 4VP!
This was an intended loss for the Leviathan Regimental HQ. We have never tested a model with W80 before! Next test is to run this against a shooting heavy army. Once again the goal is not to see if it can be killed per say, but rather to see if a balanced tournament list can win against a massive titanic model. The formula was never intended to go this far, but yet it still appears to be holding up!
Alternate 40k Rules 