Imperial forces were notified of a PDF regiment that went rogue on the moon of Valour IV. Too busy being attacked from all fronts in the system, the Dark Angels fleet passing by at the time did a fly by orbital barrage on the continent. Just to be safe, the elite Emissaries Imperatus were dispatched to investigate the cause and perform the necessary corrective actions to ensure the Emperor’s light was seen by all who were still loyal.
Custode Guards entered the original camp perimeter and found that a significant number of survivors were ready for them. And they were not going to repent for their ways based on the they way their heavy artillery was taking aim!
Captain General Trajann lead a unit of Guard right up the middle to the remains of the central command building. They quickly Advanced up to the building to keep in cover and use their stealth tactics until they were ready to fight. Two units of Aquilons were each accompanied by a Praetor in their teleporter chambers in orbit, ready to assist.
The Traitor Guard wasted no time in engaging the Emperor’s agents. The corrupted Master of Ordnance barked a command and all three Basilisks with the Mark of Nurgle hit their target nearly perfectly, resulting in heavy trauma to the building. Before the dust could even settle, the Leman Russ Squadron with the Mark of Nurgle pounded the same unit with their mighty Battle Cannons and vast array of weaponry. Despite being loaded out for a traditional force, the sheer volume of fire was no joke! Hunter Killer Missiles streamed into the fray as well, blasting the area with powerful shaped charges. Lascannons flared and Heavy Bolters and Stormbolters thundered into the target location, saturating the main Guard Squad.
The main Traitor Guard Squad with the Mark of Slaanesh moved up and poured automatic fire through the command building’s windows. They were accompanied by a Lord Commissar and a Commissar, each goading the unit to greater acts to be noticed by their master. Two smaller units of Traitor Guard held back as reserves and to keep the back row of building secure in the event a retreat was necessary.
A unit of eight Scout Sentinels fired Lascannons, Multilasers, and a barrage of Hunter Killer Missiles into them as well!
Lastly, a unit of Disciples and a Commissar with the Mark of Khorne held the rear line as well, firing a Krak Missile into the midst of of the destruction,
It took a long moment for the dust to clear, but once it did it all the damage they had managed to do was make one Guard very, very unhappy. The Emperor’s blessings were truly upon them this day, and it was not a good sign for those who turned to the Ruinous Powers.
In turn, the Aquilons made their strike! The first squad arrived on the Eastern Flank, but became partially entombed in cerakrete. The wild shots made by the alarmed terminator blew the Traitor Champion away at point blank range, but the others failed to hit due to being trapped in the transporter accident.
The second squad faired a similar fate as the first, and was deposited high above their target, falling to the ground in a crumpled heap. While they were not injured, they were knocked prone and massively disoriented for a time. The ion storm raging in the upper atmosphere properly was wrecking havoc with their Golden Age technology.
The central Guard squad moved into the old command building, but the Ruinous Powers were not going to let their impressive show of endurance at the start of the fight go unanswered. With some dark interventions that baffled even the most scholarly of the Sisters of Silence, their first volley set a precedent for the entirety of their battle that would plague them from start to finish!
To make matters worse, they attempted to Charge the Traitor Guard swarming the former command building and found themselves heavily weighed down by the power of chaos. A mark of Tzeentch had been inlayed in the foundation to ward of the Emperor, a trap to make them vulnerable!
Due to the limited supply of ammunition for their Autoguns and other weapons, the Traitor Guard were unable to fire in Overwatch like they would have formerly. Plus, with their sanity starting to slip, proper military discipline was falling short, causing a lack of overall tactical effectiveness. Already this was showing by them being a giant formation of infantry with no real hierarchy or tactical plan in place.
With the trap sprung that no one knew about, the Traitor Guard stepped up their firepower! The Basilisk fired again, pounding the center of the command building and the Custode trapped there. This time, they had better luck cracking through their Stormshields. Bolter fire was sprayed indiscriminately at the Aquilons in front of them. Point blank, the Traitor Squad fired on full auto, peppering round off of them. One was so close he could feel the spalling spatter against his armour in return, but they were unable to do any harm to them.
The large Traitor Squad fired full auto as well, with one who hesitated as he saw the impressive Emperor’s Guards not be phased by the heavy artillery get executed as a warning to the others. They redoubled their efforts, causing better fire (or just more enthusiastic) fire control into them. Part of the unit flanked to the west and poured three flamers into them.
It was at this point the Leman Russ Squadron made their first mistake. During their move forwards to get away from the first and second squad of Aquilons, they pivoted around to face behind them. Their Battle Cannons were still targeting the central Custode unit, but during the turn one of the gunners stepped on the firing pedal during a sharp lurch and blew away nine Traitor Guardsmen next to him! To make matters worse, the main guns and the many secondary guns all failed to do any damage to the Custodes. It was at this point that the Commander realized he had not paid homage to Tzeentch, and Tzeentch was going to be involved whether he was invited or not. The main squad’s minds snapped as they were pulverized by friendly fire. It had been inexcusable friendly fire that pushed them to turn traitor in the first place, but now they were suffering from Insanity as the whispers of madness drove them past the edge of no return!
The Scout Sentinels fired again. This time instead of most of the Lascannons missing, all five missed. To make it worse, the Multilasers continued to be working in a degraded condition, having a poor accuracy rating and doing no damage either.
The first group of Aquilons moved towards the Basilisks, closing in and engaging them in melee. One Basilisk was destroyed, one of its crew members already executed by the Master of Ordnance for mishandling a charge prior. The other two pressed in to fight. The Marks of Nurgle were doing well to protect them, all things considered.
The second Aquilon squad moved towards the Leman Russ Squadron, but was to far away to Charge them, leaving them exposed in the open!
The Praetorians broke off from each group, charging and killing the Guardsmen holding the Objectives on the middle and east flank.
One of the Custode Guards at the rear charged the Leman Russ Squadron to keep them busy until the Aquilons could get their to finish them off.
At the command building, ten Traitor Guard were killed as the Custodes charged in. The Custodes were tasked with showing these traitors the light of the Emperor, so they issued a dual. The Commissar was thrown into their Challenge to keep him at bay, as the Lord Commissar was not ready for a fateful dual just yet. The Lord Commissar kept them at hand, removing another guardsmen to ensure they kept fighting as hard as possible.
The Basilisk did their best, pounding the Aquilons in the open with everything they had. The Leman Russ Squadron did likewise, with further support from the Disciples. While they did not quite kill one of them, he was staggering from the repeated earthshaking blows and about to meet his maker in the less literal since.
The Sentinels targeted an exposed Custode holding an Objective, managing to mildly inconvenience him by hurting him for once.
The main unit continued to press into the Custodes in the command building, with a fool hardy Champion being promised Daemonprince ascension if he could but merely strike Trajann down with his Chainsword. In a completely expected turn of events he instead delivered two perfectly placed blows but forgot to turn his Chainsword on. Trajann did not forget to turn on his power weapons, but probably did not need to for a mere Traitor Guard Champion. More men were cut down, but they did topple another Custode through weight of numbers!
The Aquilons fighting the Basilisks blew the second one up, injuring the Master of Ordnance and themselves!
The fight at the command building lead to an impressive array of destruction. A particularly robust Refractor Field barely Kept the Lord Commissar alive, but it held. All of the other Traitors were slain.
While this was going on, the second squad of Aquilons made their Charge against the Leman Russ Squadron. They were able to damage one of them, but not before the heavily injured terminator was crushed beneath their tracks! The damage was building up, but all three tanks were still in the fight thanks to the protection of Father Nurgle. The tank crews however, also went Insane. Their accuracy thrown to the wind for gleeful cackling laughter to take place of strategy, they were doomed to struggle.
The last Basilisk was blown up as well, injuring an Aquilon again! The Master of Ordnance was out of range again, but seeing as the Emperor himself just ordered the Assassination of the Traitor Guard leadership, he needed to get out of there!
One of the Leman Russ Tanks was wrecked, smashed beyond repair by the Powerfists of the Aquilons. The others fought back, blasting cannons into Custodes far away and firing secondary weapons point blank range, slow injuring and battering the remaining Custodes. Another one had its foot run over, but he was not going to let a small thing such as a mangled foot stop him from beating the living light of the Emperor out of these tanks. In the warp there is purpose in madness, and despite all odds they performed better with struggles of Insanity rather than rationality.
The Lord Commissar attempted a spiteful last stand, cutting Trajann with a good slash before being quite literally exploded by his axe’s forcefield.
The Scout Sentinels had some more success, wounding a Custode twice in one volley. Their clearly derelict weapons needed to be attended to by an Enginseer, but he had been shot up at the beginning of the battle by Aquilons.
The Disciples continued slinging Krak Missiles, Plasma bolts, and Shotguns Shells in all directions. One Plasma Gunner melted his face off, but they were putting up quite a fight all things considered.
The Master of Ordnance made a run for it, but was shot down right before he made it into a solid building to hide from the may Aquilons and Praetorian that solely targeted him.
The Custodes continued to pound the Leman Russ Squadron, and it suffered damage to a second tank but it held up with a disabled cannon. Once again, the wild maniacal driving sprees resulted in an Aquilon being crushed into a building. While not slain, it did deal a devastating blow to him.
A Custode Guard charged forward, ramming his spear into a Scout Sentinel and its driver, toppling it with his might blow. They swarmed him, Chainsaws whirring but were only able to get a solid blow through to his arm due to his immense defenses and the ineptitude of their pilots. They too lost their minds and began fighting wildly and without discipline.
The toll on the Traitor Guard was showing. The Sentinels fired point blank and shoved their chainsaws into the Custode again, but it failed to kill him, only cripple him.
The Leman Russ Squadron was firing wildly, and a stray miraculous Heavy Bolter round hit the eye lens of a seriously injured Custode Guard not in their fight, killing him with no warning.
Trajann hammered into the Scout Sentinels next, obliterating four of them all by himself! They were able to finally kill the Custode Guard at that point, but only 3 remained.
A lone Custode Guard was heading towards the Disciples. They fired their weapons, but very unexpectedly only lightly injured him despite the heavy weapons.
Trajann finished off the last sentinels, with an explosion that hurt him in the process as the Custode made it to the Disciples. They fought back with the Commissar taking the brunt of the beating through a poor attack on the Custode’s part. The Traitor Champion had a Powerfist, and was able to deliver a solid upper cut.
As the remaining forces descended upon them, the Traitor Champion delivered two impressive blows with the power of Khorne and crushed the Custode Guard’s head like a melon! Only a heavily wounded commissar and he remained.
Khorne, delighted by the Champion, demanded he be elevated to a much higher ranking status. Custodes were able to push the Traitor Guard back into hiding on the moon of Valour IV!
Custodes won 12 to 5 with a Major Victory!
This was the first in our final tests for Traitor Guard before publishing the Codex. No issues were found! We will continue to test Chaos Undivided and its supplements and get them posted as soon as they are deemed tournament ready.
Alternate 40k Rules 