For an audio version, click here!
The Necrons continued their slow vengeful pursuit of the Dark Angels and Nurgle. Khorne sensed the rapid escalation of hostilities by this point and dispatched his forces to probe the combatants, to see if they were worthy of his presence and influence. The Necrons were caught in the open during the still dark hours of morning. Three groups of Immortals held defensive positions forming a line. A group of Tomb Blades buzzed around the northern flank. A full unit of Lychguard and Orikan the Diviner held the center trench line. In the same center building, a lone Elysian Officer of the Fleet hid in the upper floor, acting as an observer for airstrikes. It was unknown whether or not the Necrons were aware of his presence, but he kept quiet just in case. In front of the unit a unit of seven Scout Sentinels lay hidden within their camo netting, also hoping they were not spotted. They may not have had the ground presence to stop the forces of Khorne by themselves, but their orders were to ensure the Necrons expended as much strength as possible in this fight.
In front of them a unit of Skullcannons hugged the northern flank. A massive Spartan Assault Tank rolled slowly up the center with further support from a moderate sized unit of Bloodcrushers on its southern flank. A Leviathan Dreadnought also stood in the center, its massive gravity weapon humming with power.
The dreadnought suddenly found itself the center of a spotlight from a Scout Sentinel. Seven Hunter Killer Missiles and Lascannons were fired at it. Five of each hit their mark. Though its armour was good, it still was heavily damaged. Its own Hunter Killer Missile and Stormbolter were temporarily knocked offline, but more importantly its legs were blown out from under it. The dreadnought screamed its fury as its Khorne rage was unable to be sated. The Tomb Blades of the Necrons moved up to claim the objective it was going to need in the near future.
The Skull Cannons would have none of that of course. They moved up, firing into the Lychguard with moderate effect. One powerful round clipped a Scout Sentinel and blew off its Lascannon. They then proceeded to charge the Tomb Blades. The Necrons were slain easily, but two of them reanimated and resumed fighting. The Spartan moved up the center, firing its eight Lascannons at the Scout Sentinels. The Elysians took cover, using their camo netting to avoid all of the shots with the cover of darkness and intervening Immortals. The Skullcrushers on the southern flank advanced to cover ground quicker. Their heavy bulk made the ground tremor as they press into some ruins. The Leviathon, continuing to screech in fury, fired its gravity weapon with moderate effect on the Lychguard. They reanimated and went about their business, prompting increasingly angry sounds coming from the relic dreadnought.
From behind the Necron lines, an Avenger Strike fighter came in low and fast. It saturated the Bloodcrushers with its Avenger Bolt Cannon, Autocannons, and Lascannons. The punishing fire slew one, followed by another as two Vulture Gunships dropped from the sky behind them. The lead gunship called for attack pattern theta. The first one fired all four Multiple Rocket Pods into the crusher formation, followed closely behind by the two Punisher Gatling Guns of the second gunship. Both further added to the mass hail of rockets and bullets with their Heavy Bolters barking in between volleys, allowing no respite from the withering storm. As the dust cleared, the remains of the Bloodcrushers slain dematerialized back into the warp. The unit remained intact. A unit of Tauros Venators came in and full speed from the southern flank behind enemy lines. Engines whining, they both fired twin Lascannons into the Leviathon with no effect. They then sent their total of four Hunter Killer Missiles into the back of the Spartan with one scoring an excellent hit. The tank remained operational, but they had got its attention as planned. From the Northern Flank, a group of two Tauros Assault Vehicles came in and full speed and fired Krak Grenades at the Leviathan with no additional effect. The Scout Sentinels fired again and nearly destroyed the Leviathan, but its main weapon remained operational. The Lychguard moved out of the trenches and charged the Skullcannons. One cannon chariot was slain outright, another barely survived the initial attack. Despite its best efforts, the Tomb Blades it slew reanimated, and it was overwhelmed by the massive onslaught. They dematerialized with a cry of rage.
The Spartan unloaded its Khorne Berserkers. Eighteen of them, plus Kharn the Betrayer and Fabius Bile charged into the Lychguard with a mass revving of dual Chain Axes. The initial impact was devastating, killing all of them save Orikan himself. Despite the initial losses and only slaying one Berserker in return thanks to Kharn back swinging Gorechild a little too far, five of the Lychguard reanimated to resume the fight. Fabius Bile enhanced the Berserker’s Toughness with a variety of drugs to see them through the fight. The Spartan fired its Lascannons into the camouflaged Sentinels with no effect, though a Heavy Bolter round finished off the damaged on, the round exploding inside the thinly armoured cockpit. The other Lascannon attempted to hit a Tauros Assault vehicle with no effect. The speeds at which they could drive made them difficult to hit. The Bloodcrushers kept advancing, nearly right on top of the southern positioned Immortals. Near them, a unit of eighteen Bloodletters materialized into existence, eager to fight!
The Tauros Venators continued to push their engines to their limits, screaming up the field and lightly damaging the Spartan with their Lascannons. The Tauros Assault vehicles parked right behind the Leviathan and ended its rage with a barrage of Krak Grenades into its rear armour. It slumped down as the system suffered catastrophic failure and shut down. The Avenger Strike Fighter peeled left and strafed the Spartan with light damage. The Vulture Gunships began to pull up and to the left when they spotted the tight cluster of Bloodletters right in front of them. Eagerly, the lead gunship let loose another massive hail of rockets and bolter round, followed closely by incredibly accurate gatling fire. The Officer of the Fleet coordinated the runs now that they were close to him, making it easier to fire for effect. The entire unit exploded in screams of dismay and outrage as they were blasted back into the warp. Nothing but a blood-spattered city block remained. The Sentinels provided further fire support after retreating behind the building, lightly damaging the Spartan further. The last Tomb Blade raced behind enemy lines to claim an objective point crucial for coordinating further strafing runs. The Lychguard fought with surprising vigor provided by Orikan. They were able to critically wound Fabius Bile and injure Kharn. Another Berserker fell to their Warscythes. In return however, the Lychguard were wiped out, including Orikan. The Berserkers fell back as two of the Lychguard reanimated.
On the southern flank, the Bloodcrushers charged and crushed the Immortals, losing another crusher to incredibly accurate Overwatch fire. The gauss fire atomized it to pink mist, but once again the might of Khorne obliterated their foe. Two of the Immortals stubbornly got back on their feet and resumed fighting. The Berserkers proceeded further west to engage the Scout Sentinels, dropping one with Bile’s toxic pistol. He stepped over the melting body and claimed the objective they once held. As he left, he enhanced Kharn’s Toughness, stimulating him with multiple drugs. The Spartan rolled backwards, firing up at the Avenger Strike Fighter diving down on it. The craft was damaged heavily from the mass Lascannons, losing a Lascannon of its own and having its main weapon knocked offline temporarily. The Chaff Launcher failed to throw off the targeting of the gunners on the ground. Its Heavy Bolters managed to stun the driver of a Tauros Venator and lightly damage the vehicle.
In the Bloodcrusher fight, a very stubborn Immortal was beaten down and then climbed back to its feet. They gnashed their teeth in rage but were able to do little else. The Vulture Gunships continued to pull right, going into a shallow dive as they bared down on the Khorne Berserkers partially in the trench. While they were not as tightly clustered as the Bloodletters, they were still close together and suffered significant losses despite the relatively light payload of rockets and Punisher fire blasting into them. Many fell before the intense fire, but they kept going with the rage that only Khorne knows best. The Avenger Strike Fighter closed in on the Spartan near the edge of the field of battle, failing to perform any damage to the target. The Scout Sentinels fell back to the far corner, firing their Lascannons into the closing Berserkers, only injuring one. As they fell back the Tauros Assault vehicles began racing in, firing Frag Grenades into the Berserkers with minimum effect. The Tauros Venators split off from each other. Both harassing the Spartan with no effect. The lone Lychguard charged the Spartan in the rear, getting a good hit on it that damaged it substantially before being crushed beneath its bulk. It tried to reanimate, but the massive weight of the tank denied it the chance to return to battle. For the driver’s part, he was unaware the guard was even back there as he kept backing up as fast as possible from the Avenger.
The Bloodcrushers were finally able to stomp on the Immortal enough times that no amount of nanobots could repair it. Angrily they stomped towards the center where the next Immortals were holed up. As they left, the Immortal’s body dispersed into green light as it beamed back to its tomb world to be repaired and antagonize them another day. The Berserkers charged the Scout Sentinels. The Champion challenged the Sergeant to one on one combat. As the entire unit was smashed all around him, the Sergeant guided his Sentinel Chainsaw in a sweeping arc, only to have it caught by the Champion’s Powerfist. Moments later he to was destroyed as the thin armour failed to prevent multiple blows from tearing his walker apart. Kharn’s Gorechild annihilated everything it came into contact with. During this massacre, two unwitting Berserkers got to excited and tried to steal Kharn’s kill. Or at least that is what he thought. Regardless they were slain for their supposed treachery. The Spartan fire all of its Lascannons and Heavy Bolters pointblank into the Avenger, crippling and leaving it barely functional. The tail gunner was stunned as a Lascannon round blew through the side of his canopy. A stray poison dart rapped against the window as Fabius Bile attempted to down the aircraft with a dart pistol, but it failed to get the pilot.
The Immortal in the center continued to soften the Bloodcrusher unit, slowly damaging them as they moved closer. The last Tomb Blade zoomed across the field and claimed another strategic point, hiding behind a speeding Tauros Venator. The Venators were all over the field at once, drifting left and right in a dust cloud, making it difficult to hit them. All the while they continued to chip at the Spartan’s defenses, slowly making progress. The Vultures Gunships closed to nearly right on top of the Berserkers and fired with very accurate fire again. The mass rockets and rounds nearly wiped the unit out, leaving Kharn barely alive. Brass casings danced off their power armour as the landing gear nearly touched them. Frag Grenades pounded them as well as the Tauros Assault vehicles drove in close. The Avenger Strike Fighter was forced to pull up and leave as it faced poor maneuvering options.
The Bloodcrushers engaged the Immortals, losing another to Overwatch fire and a better defensive position. Once again, the unit was torn apart by the great beats and damned blades, but two of the Immortals lived up to their name and got back on their feet. Kharn and his tiny retinue charged the Tauros Assault vehicles, wrecking them with ease. The Spartan shot its weapon at the Vulture Gunships puling away and damaged one of them, its flares throwing off the aim of several shots. Fabius Bile took his opportunity to begin crossing the open area to the incredibly important objective behind his lines. Chaos was losing strategic control of the situation and desperately needed to get it back.
The Vultures ran out of targets and were forced to pull up to circle back for a new run. As they left, the Avenger came in, sputtering smoke and flames out of both engines. The pilot turned off his targeting computer that was on the fritz and took aim him. He had spotted a critical target and was going to take the shot. As Fabius ran, he turned around and saw the Avenger bearing down on him. He jaunted to the side as the Avenger Bolt Cannon ripped a line where he had been a moment before. The unjammed Lascannon missed as did the Autocannons as well. Half of the targeting system was no longer functioning, and the pilot could barely see out the window to make his manual shot. In that moment, he knew that he, A-A-Ron had done messed up. The Officer of the Fleet pulled his Laspistol, took aim at Kharn, but missed. Hoping he did not notice, he ducked back into hiding on the second floor. The Immortals next to him finally died in the battle and stayed dead. Both Tauros Venators changed targets, converging on Fabius Bile from two angles. They fired Lascannons into him but were only able to critically injure him again. He continued to stim himself to keep fighting, but never quite die.
The Bloodcrushers pulled back to the southern objective knowing that the lone Tomb Blade was going to come claim it. They did their best to surround it and wait. Kharn saw the Officer, pulled back Gorechild to throw it at him but hit the Berserker behind him. Dazed, the Berserker stumbled forwards. The mighty Chain Axe went up, slicing the Officer of the Fleet in half, then fell down and buried itself in what now had more in common with being a power armoured sheath then death dealing Berserker of Khorne. Calmy, Kharn ripped it free and carried on. Bile made it to the objective and took cover from the swarm of Venators and Lascannons. The Spartan gunned down the Avenger. It made a desperate crash landing into a building but did not explode. Cursing, A-A-Ron kicked the canopy open and bailed out with his gunner.
Kharn heard the telltale sound of incoming Gunships. He held his Champion, the only remaining survivor of his unit, as a shield. The vengeful volley of rockets slew the champion, but he was safe. The follow up brrrrrrrrrt cannon fire shred him limb from limb. They may not have been fast enough to save their forward observer, but they did avenge him. The Tauros Venators merged on the back side of the building, and once again were only able to wound Bile severely as they blasted him into the wall with incredibly accurate Lascannon fire. The lone Tomb Blade mockingly stole the objective, then killed a Bloodcrusher with gauss fire.
The Spartan obliterated one of the Venators with massive overkill. The Heavy Bolters lightly damaged the second one, but its incredible speed thwarted the worse of the incoming damage. The Bloodcrushers finally slew the Tomb Blade, but the damage had already been done. The Imperial Guard and Necrons had pushed Chaos off of its battlefield stability. Over run and surrounded, they pulled back.
Elysians and Necrons win the game, 8 to 5 with a Minor Victory!
Alternate 40k Rules 