Too much to get them up and running before the chaos boys are inside the system. The Warp is being helpful to them, making them speedy.
Echoes of Eternity: A Warhammer 40k Necron Lord Quest
- Thread starter boredblues
- Start date
-
- Tags
- warhammer warhammer 40k necron war
Too much to get them up and running before the chaos boys are inside the system. The Warp is being helpful to them, making them speedy.
- Location
- Someplace Somewhere
Wasn't one of the features of the system mournhold is in is that enemy forces using the warp can only approach the system from a single direction? Because if that's the case something we can do to even out there numbers is mine the approach.
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That's a deliciously devious and effective idea.
- Location
- Brazil
The Necrons should, through all their knowledge, be able to create a spatial mine field. Placing it in this direction and on certain paths around our Tombworld should help greatly in defense.
Furthermore, if we want to transform these pirates into something useful and loyal, it will take a lot of action and at least a generation of cultural change. Lucky for us, the Necrons don't care about time and humans, in addition to reproducing quickly, also die equally quickly.
Furthermore, if we want to transform these pirates into something useful and loyal, it will take a lot of action and at least a generation of cultural change. Lucky for us, the Necrons don't care about time and humans, in addition to reproducing quickly, also die equally quickly.
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That doesn't sound like the Necron honor-bound warfare style. Let's do it.
birdmaster01
Big Tech's Strongest Soldier
Fortunately,we're not under the wrathful gaze of Games Workshop so we can kick that rusty Chaos marine ass with impunity
It is honor bound the primitives are not only primitive, they are servants of chaos which knows no honor. They first need to survive a simple test to see if they are worthy/ready for honor-bound warfare, a minefield.
(Other primitive organics deserve honor-bound warfare because their masters didn't disturb our research)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
… didn't I literally say this earlier?
Could have gone better... did not went bad.
Sad but acceptable. Will have to make up to them. Rah is bloody scary when doing his job.
Funny how he ended up getting better by failing. Sure it set us back, and it shows us that for all the maight we operate with... We really do not have a diplomat in our rooster. Kind of sad this is best we are capble of atm. Still, we make due. At least loss of life was kept to minimum.
And deathlady words prove true. At least we had a warning. Priority remains to ensuring none leave, but man there is many of them.
May have to set up a trap rather than an engagment, let them land, let them perish kind of deal. Rather them not contaminate our vassals.
Speaking of. Man, those tribes are in for an uplift. It may be funny seeing them interact with eachother and our red boys and girls.
Investing in civilian tranzyt thou.
Right Abhumans... Forgot to mention them... Let see:
We have Psykers and Ogryns, and possibly navigators.
That means we have yet to confirmed presence of :
Beastmen
Ratlings
Squats
Nightsiders
And given the enviroment... most of those are possible. Would be lucky to have all of them, as it might unlock some genetic research potential for us and our vassals. As it is, it will take a while for their individually being cherished.
This may prove a lot of fun, but also has potential to really annoy us
For now we must convince the offending chaos forces that we had no contact with them...
Edit: There are other abhumans know in warhammer universe but most of them are either locked to their planet or custom made once.
Would not be against reverse-engeneering Astarters just to dunk on Emperor. A side project perhaps.
Edit two: Then we have more broad term of a 'mutant' ...
Man, I love it here.
Edit two:
Sad but acceptable. Will have to make up to them. Rah is bloody scary when doing his job.
Funny how he ended up getting better by failing. Sure it set us back, and it shows us that for all the maight we operate with... We really do not have a diplomat in our rooster. Kind of sad this is best we are capble of atm. Still, we make due. At least loss of life was kept to minimum.
And deathlady words prove true. At least we had a warning. Priority remains to ensuring none leave, but man there is many of them.
May have to set up a trap rather than an engagment, let them land, let them perish kind of deal. Rather them not contaminate our vassals.
Speaking of. Man, those tribes are in for an uplift. It may be funny seeing them interact with eachother and our red boys and girls.
Investing in civilian tranzyt thou.
I think of them more as Dark Angels? good a t a lot of things by having bunch of diffrent specialists. Not at good at one specific job, but having alternative ways of getting the job done
Right Abhumans... Forgot to mention them... Let see:
We have Psykers and Ogryns, and possibly navigators.
That means we have yet to confirmed presence of :
Beastmen
Ratlings
Squats
Nightsiders
And given the enviroment... most of those are possible. Would be lucky to have all of them, as it might unlock some genetic research potential for us and our vassals. As it is, it will take a while for their individually being cherished.
This may prove a lot of fun, but also has potential to really annoy us
For now we must convince the offending chaos forces that we had no contact with them...
Edit: There are other abhumans know in warhammer universe but most of them are either locked to their planet or custom made once.
Would not be against reverse-engeneering Astarters just to dunk on Emperor. A side project perhaps.
Edit two: Then we have more broad term of a 'mutant' ...
Man, I love it here.
Edit two:
Love those little tid-bits.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Would one of the Four putting their finger on the scale change that? That is, could the Four allow them to come in from another direction via forcing a... breach, I suppose, in whatever barrier prevents them jumping in from elsewhere?
You guys aren't important enough for that level of effort and attention.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Perhaps, but a few turns ago we also had
Which seems to be a direct intervention by Tzeentch to prevent us stack-wiping their fleet?
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birdmaster01
Big Tech's Strongest Soldier
Tzeentch unintentionally knocks stuff off with his ass all the time,nothing to worry about
Sure, but Tzeentch is sending prophecies to his adepts all the time. Trying to breach a becalmed Warp would mean a God acting directly. Not even the Emperor warranted that.
- Location
- Someplace Somewhere
Yeah the system we are in would require a significant investment from a chaos god to circumvent and because of the nature of the chaos gods and the Great Game no single god wants to invest that kind of power without extreme benefit as if one of the gods spends that kind of power the others will take advantage to gain an advantage.
We are essentially are in a pocket dimenshion as far as travel via warp is concerned. Kind of like trying to anchor in a whirlpool. ya end up swerling.
Like holly Hagen, that is one tough nut to crack. Mayby via diffrent means of travel, but for the most part. We have a Door that would give Rogal Dorn a boner.
I also means any mines we put down we have to travers around later. In the meantime, emergency waking is not something to be hung up over. Esspecially is we can figure out where Stedfast put all his ships.
Seriusly, we could find few by that point... bugger did not make it easy.
Anyone up for making a swarm trap? if they land they will melt.... We just have to make landing seem the safer option.
The Battle for Mournhold - The Fight in Space
The meeting was tense. Well, as tense as a council of soulless automatons could be.
The Anahakara Lords, born and bred for war, burned with cold eagerness to sharpen their fangs again after sixty million years. Only the Crypteks, more concerned with preserving their works than for the glory of battle, didn't anticipate the incoming storm.
All eyes were on Rahotamen. The void-admiral had been renowned during the Great War, and many of those present remembered his exploits. On the contrary, Xorathis was far less known for all the wary respect and dread she managed to conjure. They had known who she was once, maybe, but Khepren, Szreakh, or someone else had scoured their memories of her.
Uhn'Saekh were pathetic, Chaos-corrupted ones even more so, but the Anahakara treated war as an art form and the highest expression of one's soul and merit. None but absolute efficiency was allowed, no matter if the foe was an ant or an elephant. And these enhanced Uhn'Saekh, these Kur'Uhn'Saekh… their data said not to underestimate them, or the fell powers they could bring to bear.
With all that, looking at the accomplished admiral as the commander-in-chief was only logical.
Xorathis didn't mind. She was finding more and more that she liked the role of shadowy ruler. Far less headaches, and it was fun to have other people scurry around for you.
At her gesture, Rahotamen stepped forward. In the silence of the throneroom, the admiral's steps sounded like stones hitting the bottom of a well.
"The situation is clear," he began, his sepulchral voice not quite managing to hide the no-nonsense tone of the experienced commander. He raised a hand, conjuring a model of the system in viridian lines. All eyes, Lords and Crypteks alike, focused on the orbs, measuring, calculating.
"The corrupted will emerge before the King's Gate," a red glyph appeared at the outer edge of the system, just beyond the debris ring. "They have no choice. The hyper-geometry glyph formed by the planets becalms the Warp all around the system. They know this. They'll be ready to soften any sudden blow that we'll bring against them."
A few voices hissed about treachery and lack of honor that ambushing lesser races entailed. They quickly fell silent as Rahotamen's burning eyes scoured his audience.
"Thanks to our scouts, we know the invaders' numbers." Rahotamen nodded toward Korissah, the Deathmark standing immobile by a side. He paused, deep-engrained instincts warring inside his cortex. As a military commander, he had grown used to smoothing egos and recognizing effort. But it was pointless here. He twitched, then resumed. "Reports tell of thirty transport ships, twenty escorts, twelve light cruisers and five heavy cruisers. All of them heavily mutated, we can imagine." As he spoke, dozens of crimson shards appeared before the King's Gate. He pointed at the swarm formed by the smallest. "We can expect the transports to be filled to overcapacity with cultists and mutants. Tens of thousands, one hundred thousand at maximum. They won't retreat, surrender, or break. Chaos overwrote any survival instinct they could have." Scoffs echoed among the Lords. Rahotamen ignored them.
"Corrupted's battle tactics teach that this rabble is to be expended at will." As the Nemesor flicked his fingers, the swarm moved at the front of the formation. "In space, they are shields to screen more valuable assets, but more often, sacrifices. They are batteries, blood, flesh and souls to use like kindling to fuel Chaos rituals. If the Kur'Uhn'Saekh commanding them are of the same breed of those I and my servants fought, and little makes me think they won't be, these sacrifices will be used to conjure mighty powers."
Among the Lords, metallic fingers tightened on Warscythes and ancient weapons. As Necron nobility, they were used to consider their slaves expendable. But for betters to use their lessers as fuel for barbaric rituals touched a chord they didn't care about. Differently from mortals, they didn't feel fear, or unease, only a noble disdain.
Rahotamen's baleful eyes moved across his audience. "Attacking them would mean depriving our enemy of resources they could use to feed their rituals, but also risking them using their deaths against us. In space, such events are unknown, but will likely entail the conjuring of powerful warp vortexes." He waved, and three viridian shards appeared before the swarm of red. "At the moment, the fleet of Mictlan is composed of two escort-class Dirge Frigates and the super-heavy Judgement." The central shard blazed a brilliant green, outshining anything in its vicinity. "Nothing in the enemy fleet can surpass its firepower, but even a lion can be brought down by a thousand flea bites. The Judgement must be protected at all costs, or we'll lose any chance to contest our enemy in space. As for the Dirge, our ships are superior to their Uhn'Saekh equivalent, but we cannot expect them to play more than a support role. They lack the firepower to contest with even one of the corrupted's heavy cruisers." He paused, allowing for opinions.
"We can't stop them in space then…" A Lord commented, thoughtful. "They will reach Mournhold." The prospect sent a wave of grim eagerness through the Lords. Nothing surpassed meeting your enemy on the ground, blade against blade.
"Unless we stand our ground and fight!" Another said, unwilling to let an inferior race dictate the rules of engagement.
"It would put the Judgement at risk, fool. Did you not hear what Lord Rahotamen just said?"
Rahotamen thumped his staff, silencing the squabble before it could escalate. "We must decide," he sentenced, his raspy voice filling the air. "We lack the numbers to pierce their flesh in multiple points at once, so our strength must be focused. Attacking their transports is one possibility. There are others." At his wave, bulkier shards were highlighted in red. "The rest of the enemy fleet is a mix of escorts, light and heavy Cruisers. I expect they will assume traditional Uhn'Saekh formations, with the escorts providing cover for their heavier vessels to take position and bring their heavy guns to bear. Each of them will have its complements of thousands of cultists and mutants, but what we must wary of is the Kur'Uhn'Saekh commanding them. They are…" Rahotamen twitched, his voice crackling as old memories tried and failed to emerge. "…dangerous. Powerful. Each of them is more than a match for the Lychguard. The average Warrior shall not stop them."
The Lords registered, changing their ideas accordingly. For a lesser breed to be such a threat was a novel concept, but they were professional, each with tens of thousands of years of conflict before them. They could respect strength, even if they didn't respect those who bear it.
"That's a reason to blast them out of the sky," a Lord growled. "Small or large, any Uhn'Saekh will wither under a Gauss ship barrage."
Rahotamen nodded, conceding the point. "It would deprive them of their strongest assets, some of them at least. But it would also mean to drive deep into their fleet and engage in a prolonged fight that could put our ships at risk." He glowered at them. "And if lose them, or even if the Judgement is heavily damaged, we won't be able to stop them from moving at will into the system."
"Is that so important? They are just Uhn'Saekh."
Rahotamen stared coldly at the Lord who spoke. "With their numbers, if they are left a free hand, they'll be able to swarm any of the dormant Tombworld. We are connected to Zhol-Thekai partially through the teleportation gates, but the others are entirely outside our reach. We would be powerless to do anything while the Uhn'Saekh ravage our sleeping kin and set their blasphemous rituals." His eyes narrowed to twin fissures. "And that's what we must be wary of. The sorcerers my servants fought were masters of dimensional twisting. If they manage to gain a foothold and open their portals, we'll have a demonic invasion in our hands."
A grim silence fell at his words. A demonic infestation was no joke, even for the mighty Necrons. Countless capering daemons would invade their planets, turning them into their disgusting Daemon Worlds, with catastrophic consequences for all involved.
"This is the worst-case scenario," Rahotamen said, cutting any doubt away with a sharp gesture. "As long as we maintain the power to contest them, they won't ever be able to set their blasphemous rituals. This I swear on…!" He thumped his chest plate with a fist, then stopped, looking puzzled. For a moment, memories had coalesced. For a moment.
"What about mines?" The words, coming from a warm, deep voice that had little place in that tomb, attracted the general attention.
Xorathis lounged on her throne, fingers caressing her chin. Her eyes, amused, warm and filled with something deeper, were on Rahotamen.
"They will emerge before the King's Gate, will they not?" She asked. "Why not fill the gap with mines?"
Unease slithered across the Lords. Female commanders weren't so uncommon among the Necrontyr, and the Bio-Transference had made the differences in gender moot at best. Still, there was something in Xorathis' presence that put them ill at ease. Flustered them, someone would say when he was sure nobody was listening.
"My Lady…" one Lord coughed. "Mine-laying is a dishonorable tactic, long put out of use even in the wars against lesser races…"
"A good idea to bring it back then. Trying new things is a healthy habit," Xorathis cooed, then turned to the Crypteks. "Chalchun. Ptolomes. Can we churn out a few million mines for our guests?"
The two Crypteks bowed low, saying nothing.
Xorathis tilted her head Rahotamen's way.
"Good then," the commander said, a hint of displeasure entering his tone. It disappeared quickly as he turned to address his audience. All has been laid out," he said, his voice deep and resonant like the howl of the wind rushing through a canyon. The enemies are at our door, brethren, servants, honored commanders, and soldiers. We must decide."
One hundred staves hit the ground with a dull boom that echoed across the hall. "We must decide."
Mortals would have felt anxiety for an implacable, inhuman enemy on its way; maybe weariness for the endless wars; maybe despair and despondence. In the gloom of the throneroom, where rows upon rows of burning eyes were arrayed, there was only the cold certainty that the would have been a slaughter and the grim eagerness for it.
Lounging on her throne, Xorathis couldn't repress a flicker of excitement. This would be Mictlan's first, great trial. She wondered, where was she going to put all the Kur'Uhn'Saekh's helmets? On a wall for guests to see or in a closet?
Decisions decisions.
Order of battle
The War in Space will start the moment the Chaos fleet translates inside the system. Since we know where they'll appear, we can put some nasty surprises for them. Still, you must decide how you'll engage and then how you'll conduct the war before they reach Mournhold.
First Contact. When they appear before the Gate, you will:
[] Leave the minefields to inflict casualties. Retreat entirely and conserve your strength for the war in the system. Your ships will remain unharmed but you'll give them breathing room and won't use the first surprise at its fullest.
[] Attack but conserve your strength. Use your long-range weapons to inflict as much damage as possible, but don't get bogged down in prolonged engagements. You'll use the surprise provided by the minefields well, likely inflicting some damage and slowing the invaders down, at a moderate risk for your ships.
[] Give battle and do it fiercely. Dive against the surprised fleet, letting loose with everything you have and even engage in boarding actions. You'll likely inflict massive casualties but your ship will be at heavy risk and likely boarded as well.
[] Attack with all you got. Hold your ground and try to end it all in a fell swoop. Your fleet will fight with everything it has, retreating only after taking heavy damage.
With the general strategy in place, it must be decided which your main target will be. All of those you shoot down now won't grieve you on the surface of Mournhold.
[] The transport ships. Easy to shoot down and eager to throw themselves against your shields. You'll be able to vaporize a lot of them easily and with little risk, but there's a catch. Killing so many cultists will unleash a lot of psychic energy, that the sorcerers on board will be able to harness for dangerous and unknown effects.
[] The escort ships. Heavier and able to fight back, but still relatively easy picking. While it won't bring immediate results, less of them will mean less protection for the most important ships.
[] The cruisers. These are the meat and bone of the enemy fleet, where the Chaos Space Marines make their lair and conduct their blasphemous rites. Giving them a taste of cosmic fire will rip the head off the snake, but they are protected in the middle of the enemy formation and tough opponents augmented by millennia of warp-influence and thrumming with power.
The Scavenger Tribes are directly on the path of invasion. Tens of thousands of mutants, Uhn'Saekh and psykers await only for a Chaos force to harvest and conscript them to use them as sacrifice and cannon fodder. Be it by long-range psichic attacks or some other eldritch method, they will be targeted, that is for sure. You must decide what to do with them.
[] Slaughter them. Kill those more likely to be found by the invaders. Better a quick death at the end of a Gauss rifle than a sojourn in a chaos vessel.
[] Evacuate them. Moving tens of thousands of ruckus-prone mortals will be tricky, time-consuming and risky for the forces involved but you're Necron. Just take care of psykers suddenly being possessed.
[] Hide them. Repair their vessels just enough to be space-worthy but not enough to be warp-worthy and have them hide among the asteroids. They are smugglers and outcasts, they probably have their own boltholes where to disappear into. Less effective, but it will take the heat off your forces.
They will pass. This is as likely as it's humiliating. Yet, you're nothing but adaptable. Decide what your strategy will be as they advance toward Mournhold. Whatever you decide, your fleet will be there to fight the enemy as it descends on the planet and to contest them the sky and the chance to bombard your ground troops. You must only decide how much of your focus will be on it rather than the rest of the system.
[] Hit and run tactics. The Judgement has a stealth field and both it and the Dirge can teleport. Use your superior technology to engage in a guerrilla campaign and chip away at the enemy's strength. Less rewarding maybe, but it will keep them always on guard. Your fleet will focus mostly on space-to-space fighting and less on covering Mournhold's legion.
[] Search and destroy. The slave of Chaos are known for their lack of discipline. Some groups are likely to splinter and seek plunder and whatever takes their twisted fancy. What they'll find is death by Gauss. Effective to cut off their reinforcements, but it'll take some of your focus off from your capital.
[] Stand and defend. Mournhold is all. Mournhold cannot be allowed to fall. Keep your fleet close to the planet for ambush positioning and engage again as they come. You'll burn them, but this will leave most of the system undefended.
AC - There we go. War, as it often does in the warhammer 40k universe, is rushing to meet you head-on. Lose your flagship and you won't be able to contest them in space, having to rely entirely on your planet's ground-to-space defenses to keep them away, and losing any chance to protect the other tombworlds. Allow them to open a warp portal and be flooded with daemons eager for a crunchy metal snack. Everything you shoot down now, you won't have to deal with after planetside is made. Make your plan and remember: no plan survives contact with the enemy. They will react to what you do, so plan accordingly. Maybe think of what their reactions may be, and plan so that they do what you want.
The Anahakara Lords, born and bred for war, burned with cold eagerness to sharpen their fangs again after sixty million years. Only the Crypteks, more concerned with preserving their works than for the glory of battle, didn't anticipate the incoming storm.
All eyes were on Rahotamen. The void-admiral had been renowned during the Great War, and many of those present remembered his exploits. On the contrary, Xorathis was far less known for all the wary respect and dread she managed to conjure. They had known who she was once, maybe, but Khepren, Szreakh, or someone else had scoured their memories of her.
Uhn'Saekh were pathetic, Chaos-corrupted ones even more so, but the Anahakara treated war as an art form and the highest expression of one's soul and merit. None but absolute efficiency was allowed, no matter if the foe was an ant or an elephant. And these enhanced Uhn'Saekh, these Kur'Uhn'Saekh… their data said not to underestimate them, or the fell powers they could bring to bear.
With all that, looking at the accomplished admiral as the commander-in-chief was only logical.
Xorathis didn't mind. She was finding more and more that she liked the role of shadowy ruler. Far less headaches, and it was fun to have other people scurry around for you.
At her gesture, Rahotamen stepped forward. In the silence of the throneroom, the admiral's steps sounded like stones hitting the bottom of a well.
"The situation is clear," he began, his sepulchral voice not quite managing to hide the no-nonsense tone of the experienced commander. He raised a hand, conjuring a model of the system in viridian lines. All eyes, Lords and Crypteks alike, focused on the orbs, measuring, calculating.
"The corrupted will emerge before the King's Gate," a red glyph appeared at the outer edge of the system, just beyond the debris ring. "They have no choice. The hyper-geometry glyph formed by the planets becalms the Warp all around the system. They know this. They'll be ready to soften any sudden blow that we'll bring against them."
A few voices hissed about treachery and lack of honor that ambushing lesser races entailed. They quickly fell silent as Rahotamen's burning eyes scoured his audience.
"Thanks to our scouts, we know the invaders' numbers." Rahotamen nodded toward Korissah, the Deathmark standing immobile by a side. He paused, deep-engrained instincts warring inside his cortex. As a military commander, he had grown used to smoothing egos and recognizing effort. But it was pointless here. He twitched, then resumed. "Reports tell of thirty transport ships, twenty escorts, twelve light cruisers and five heavy cruisers. All of them heavily mutated, we can imagine." As he spoke, dozens of crimson shards appeared before the King's Gate. He pointed at the swarm formed by the smallest. "We can expect the transports to be filled to overcapacity with cultists and mutants. Tens of thousands, one hundred thousand at maximum. They won't retreat, surrender, or break. Chaos overwrote any survival instinct they could have." Scoffs echoed among the Lords. Rahotamen ignored them.
"Corrupted's battle tactics teach that this rabble is to be expended at will." As the Nemesor flicked his fingers, the swarm moved at the front of the formation. "In space, they are shields to screen more valuable assets, but more often, sacrifices. They are batteries, blood, flesh and souls to use like kindling to fuel Chaos rituals. If the Kur'Uhn'Saekh commanding them are of the same breed of those I and my servants fought, and little makes me think they won't be, these sacrifices will be used to conjure mighty powers."
Among the Lords, metallic fingers tightened on Warscythes and ancient weapons. As Necron nobility, they were used to consider their slaves expendable. But for betters to use their lessers as fuel for barbaric rituals touched a chord they didn't care about. Differently from mortals, they didn't feel fear, or unease, only a noble disdain.
Rahotamen's baleful eyes moved across his audience. "Attacking them would mean depriving our enemy of resources they could use to feed their rituals, but also risking them using their deaths against us. In space, such events are unknown, but will likely entail the conjuring of powerful warp vortexes." He waved, and three viridian shards appeared before the swarm of red. "At the moment, the fleet of Mictlan is composed of two escort-class Dirge Frigates and the super-heavy Judgement." The central shard blazed a brilliant green, outshining anything in its vicinity. "Nothing in the enemy fleet can surpass its firepower, but even a lion can be brought down by a thousand flea bites. The Judgement must be protected at all costs, or we'll lose any chance to contest our enemy in space. As for the Dirge, our ships are superior to their Uhn'Saekh equivalent, but we cannot expect them to play more than a support role. They lack the firepower to contest with even one of the corrupted's heavy cruisers." He paused, allowing for opinions.
"We can't stop them in space then…" A Lord commented, thoughtful. "They will reach Mournhold." The prospect sent a wave of grim eagerness through the Lords. Nothing surpassed meeting your enemy on the ground, blade against blade.
"Unless we stand our ground and fight!" Another said, unwilling to let an inferior race dictate the rules of engagement.
"It would put the Judgement at risk, fool. Did you not hear what Lord Rahotamen just said?"
Rahotamen thumped his staff, silencing the squabble before it could escalate. "We must decide," he sentenced, his raspy voice filling the air. "We lack the numbers to pierce their flesh in multiple points at once, so our strength must be focused. Attacking their transports is one possibility. There are others." At his wave, bulkier shards were highlighted in red. "The rest of the enemy fleet is a mix of escorts, light and heavy Cruisers. I expect they will assume traditional Uhn'Saekh formations, with the escorts providing cover for their heavier vessels to take position and bring their heavy guns to bear. Each of them will have its complements of thousands of cultists and mutants, but what we must wary of is the Kur'Uhn'Saekh commanding them. They are…" Rahotamen twitched, his voice crackling as old memories tried and failed to emerge. "…dangerous. Powerful. Each of them is more than a match for the Lychguard. The average Warrior shall not stop them."
The Lords registered, changing their ideas accordingly. For a lesser breed to be such a threat was a novel concept, but they were professional, each with tens of thousands of years of conflict before them. They could respect strength, even if they didn't respect those who bear it.
"That's a reason to blast them out of the sky," a Lord growled. "Small or large, any Uhn'Saekh will wither under a Gauss ship barrage."
Rahotamen nodded, conceding the point. "It would deprive them of their strongest assets, some of them at least. But it would also mean to drive deep into their fleet and engage in a prolonged fight that could put our ships at risk." He glowered at them. "And if lose them, or even if the Judgement is heavily damaged, we won't be able to stop them from moving at will into the system."
"Is that so important? They are just Uhn'Saekh."
Rahotamen stared coldly at the Lord who spoke. "With their numbers, if they are left a free hand, they'll be able to swarm any of the dormant Tombworld. We are connected to Zhol-Thekai partially through the teleportation gates, but the others are entirely outside our reach. We would be powerless to do anything while the Uhn'Saekh ravage our sleeping kin and set their blasphemous rituals." His eyes narrowed to twin fissures. "And that's what we must be wary of. The sorcerers my servants fought were masters of dimensional twisting. If they manage to gain a foothold and open their portals, we'll have a demonic invasion in our hands."
A grim silence fell at his words. A demonic infestation was no joke, even for the mighty Necrons. Countless capering daemons would invade their planets, turning them into their disgusting Daemon Worlds, with catastrophic consequences for all involved.
"This is the worst-case scenario," Rahotamen said, cutting any doubt away with a sharp gesture. "As long as we maintain the power to contest them, they won't ever be able to set their blasphemous rituals. This I swear on…!" He thumped his chest plate with a fist, then stopped, looking puzzled. For a moment, memories had coalesced. For a moment.
"What about mines?" The words, coming from a warm, deep voice that had little place in that tomb, attracted the general attention.
Xorathis lounged on her throne, fingers caressing her chin. Her eyes, amused, warm and filled with something deeper, were on Rahotamen.
"They will emerge before the King's Gate, will they not?" She asked. "Why not fill the gap with mines?"
Unease slithered across the Lords. Female commanders weren't so uncommon among the Necrontyr, and the Bio-Transference had made the differences in gender moot at best. Still, there was something in Xorathis' presence that put them ill at ease. Flustered them, someone would say when he was sure nobody was listening.
"My Lady…" one Lord coughed. "Mine-laying is a dishonorable tactic, long put out of use even in the wars against lesser races…"
"A good idea to bring it back then. Trying new things is a healthy habit," Xorathis cooed, then turned to the Crypteks. "Chalchun. Ptolomes. Can we churn out a few million mines for our guests?"
The two Crypteks bowed low, saying nothing.
Xorathis tilted her head Rahotamen's way.
"Good then," the commander said, a hint of displeasure entering his tone. It disappeared quickly as he turned to address his audience. All has been laid out," he said, his voice deep and resonant like the howl of the wind rushing through a canyon. The enemies are at our door, brethren, servants, honored commanders, and soldiers. We must decide."
One hundred staves hit the ground with a dull boom that echoed across the hall. "We must decide."
Mortals would have felt anxiety for an implacable, inhuman enemy on its way; maybe weariness for the endless wars; maybe despair and despondence. In the gloom of the throneroom, where rows upon rows of burning eyes were arrayed, there was only the cold certainty that the would have been a slaughter and the grim eagerness for it.
Lounging on her throne, Xorathis couldn't repress a flicker of excitement. This would be Mictlan's first, great trial. She wondered, where was she going to put all the Kur'Uhn'Saekh's helmets? On a wall for guests to see or in a closet?
Decisions decisions.
Order of battle
2 Dirge Frigates (Each equivalent to a Cruiser)
The Ascendant's Judgement (Mausoleum-Class Unique Super-Heavy Tomb Ship) (4 wings of 8 night shrouds bomber, 5 wings of 8 night shrouds transport , 7 wings of 8 Doom Scythes)
The Ascendant's Judgement (Mausoleum-Class Unique Super-Heavy Tomb Ship) (4 wings of 8 night shrouds bomber, 5 wings of 8 night shrouds transport , 7 wings of 8 Doom Scythes)
30 transport ships,
20 Escorts,
12 light cruisers (each with 2 Wings of Interceptors)
5 heavy cruisers (each with 3 Wings of Interceptors)
20 Escorts,
12 light cruisers (each with 2 Wings of Interceptors)
5 heavy cruisers (each with 3 Wings of Interceptors)
The War in Space will start the moment the Chaos fleet translates inside the system. Since we know where they'll appear, we can put some nasty surprises for them. Still, you must decide how you'll engage and then how you'll conduct the war before they reach Mournhold.
First Contact. When they appear before the Gate, you will:
[] Leave the minefields to inflict casualties. Retreat entirely and conserve your strength for the war in the system. Your ships will remain unharmed but you'll give them breathing room and won't use the first surprise at its fullest.
[] Attack but conserve your strength. Use your long-range weapons to inflict as much damage as possible, but don't get bogged down in prolonged engagements. You'll use the surprise provided by the minefields well, likely inflicting some damage and slowing the invaders down, at a moderate risk for your ships.
[] Give battle and do it fiercely. Dive against the surprised fleet, letting loose with everything you have and even engage in boarding actions. You'll likely inflict massive casualties but your ship will be at heavy risk and likely boarded as well.
[] Attack with all you got. Hold your ground and try to end it all in a fell swoop. Your fleet will fight with everything it has, retreating only after taking heavy damage.
With the general strategy in place, it must be decided which your main target will be. All of those you shoot down now won't grieve you on the surface of Mournhold.
[] The transport ships. Easy to shoot down and eager to throw themselves against your shields. You'll be able to vaporize a lot of them easily and with little risk, but there's a catch. Killing so many cultists will unleash a lot of psychic energy, that the sorcerers on board will be able to harness for dangerous and unknown effects.
[] The escort ships. Heavier and able to fight back, but still relatively easy picking. While it won't bring immediate results, less of them will mean less protection for the most important ships.
[] The cruisers. These are the meat and bone of the enemy fleet, where the Chaos Space Marines make their lair and conduct their blasphemous rites. Giving them a taste of cosmic fire will rip the head off the snake, but they are protected in the middle of the enemy formation and tough opponents augmented by millennia of warp-influence and thrumming with power.
The Scavenger Tribes are directly on the path of invasion. Tens of thousands of mutants, Uhn'Saekh and psykers await only for a Chaos force to harvest and conscript them to use them as sacrifice and cannon fodder. Be it by long-range psichic attacks or some other eldritch method, they will be targeted, that is for sure. You must decide what to do with them.
[] Slaughter them. Kill those more likely to be found by the invaders. Better a quick death at the end of a Gauss rifle than a sojourn in a chaos vessel.
[] Evacuate them. Moving tens of thousands of ruckus-prone mortals will be tricky, time-consuming and risky for the forces involved but you're Necron. Just take care of psykers suddenly being possessed.
[] Hide them. Repair their vessels just enough to be space-worthy but not enough to be warp-worthy and have them hide among the asteroids. They are smugglers and outcasts, they probably have their own boltholes where to disappear into. Less effective, but it will take the heat off your forces.
They will pass. This is as likely as it's humiliating. Yet, you're nothing but adaptable. Decide what your strategy will be as they advance toward Mournhold. Whatever you decide, your fleet will be there to fight the enemy as it descends on the planet and to contest them the sky and the chance to bombard your ground troops. You must only decide how much of your focus will be on it rather than the rest of the system.
[] Hit and run tactics. The Judgement has a stealth field and both it and the Dirge can teleport. Use your superior technology to engage in a guerrilla campaign and chip away at the enemy's strength. Less rewarding maybe, but it will keep them always on guard. Your fleet will focus mostly on space-to-space fighting and less on covering Mournhold's legion.
[] Search and destroy. The slave of Chaos are known for their lack of discipline. Some groups are likely to splinter and seek plunder and whatever takes their twisted fancy. What they'll find is death by Gauss. Effective to cut off their reinforcements, but it'll take some of your focus off from your capital.
[] Stand and defend. Mournhold is all. Mournhold cannot be allowed to fall. Keep your fleet close to the planet for ambush positioning and engage again as they come. You'll burn them, but this will leave most of the system undefended.
AC - There we go. War, as it often does in the warhammer 40k universe, is rushing to meet you head-on. Lose your flagship and you won't be able to contest them in space, having to rely entirely on your planet's ground-to-space defenses to keep them away, and losing any chance to protect the other tombworlds. Allow them to open a warp portal and be flooded with daemons eager for a crunchy metal snack. Everything you shoot down now, you won't have to deal with after planetside is made. Make your plan and remember: no plan survives contact with the enemy. They will react to what you do, so plan accordingly. Maybe think of what their reactions may be, and plan so that they do what you want.
THERE WILL BE A 6-HOUR MORATORIUM BEFORE VOTING. VOTING WILL GO BY PLAN.
- Location
- yorkshire
OK space long range take out the transports so we are not up to our necks in neverborn
- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think we want to do something like this:
[X]Plan: kill the marines
-[X] Give battle and do it fiercely.
-[X] The cruisers
-[X] Hide them
-[X] Search and destroy
We want the marines dead. The cultists are a problem, and we can't allow them to land on the other tomb worlds, but even a damaged Ascendant's Judgement will be able to harry the transports and escorts that peel off to attack the worlds. If we don't fail to destroy most of the cruisers, we'll probably have some fighting to do, but only on Mournhold, and not against sacrifice-empowered space marines but cultists with a tattered chain of command.
[X]Plan: kill the marines
-[X] Give battle and do it fiercely.
-[X] The cruisers
-[X] Hide them
-[X] Search and destroy
We want the marines dead. The cultists are a problem, and we can't allow them to land on the other tomb worlds, but even a damaged Ascendant's Judgement will be able to harry the transports and escorts that peel off to attack the worlds. If we don't fail to destroy most of the cruisers, we'll probably have some fighting to do, but only on Mournhold, and not against sacrifice-empowered space marines but cultists with a tattered chain of command.
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birdmaster01
Big Tech's Strongest Soldier
Draft so i dont forget
[X]Who has the high ground now,Obi-Wan ?
-[X] Leave the minefields to inflict casualties.
-[X] The cruisers.
-[X] Hide them
-[X] Hit and run tactics
[X]Who has the high ground now,Obi-Wan ?
-[X] Leave the minefields to inflict casualties.
-[X] The cruisers.
-[X] Hide them
-[X] Hit and run tactics
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This is kind of addorable. Casual intimidation, never fails to get a reaction.
A little comparision:
They bulked up. we are up against almost 70 vessels after taking down 25 of lesser tonnage. All hands on deck indeed.
Let's see. Playing it somewhat safe or brave bit while able? We still lack repair facilities for our fleet so caution has a reason behind it. Buuut....
Not exacly the middle ground but dou to being close to both it will cause most opportunities to mess with their formations.
The alterantive would be cruisers with prefrence for the lighter ones.
That is foreboding. But if done right may make up for the crude conquest. Sure saving them after upseting their way of life is confusing but that is the grimdark we here for.
ngl. psykers alone may be the reason for evacuation. Really do not want any warp contaminations than needed.
Is there a reason we can't do both? sure its engaging space assets and ground forces more, but will result in more spread out casualties. I just really wanna bit them a lot. Thou space would take precedence in my opinion.
Do keep in mind Mornehold has anty orbit capabilities. Preety sure we one-shoted a mechanicus ark with Tomb being bearly awake. There will be surface infrrastucture repairs but they will not land or bombard unopposed.
In the end I'm in favor of being a shark on the hunt, taking out bites out of the enemy till we can crush them. On the side note, Rah, will have to stay in space to coordinate mop up . On the bright note, we may test out some things.
Hey @boredblues ? Is the stilling glyph that prevents vessels from entering also messes with their ability to leave? I know we had a sorcerer using a ritual to escape but was that harder than elsewhere or is containing them not that easier?
[]Plan: Number crush
-[] Give battle and do it fiercely.
--[] some scarabs and deathmarks to lay low on vessels that survive when main force pulls away. Reveil when helpfull
-[] The escort ships.
-[] Evacuate them.
-[] Search and destroy.
[]Plan Guards Bite
-[] Attack but conserve your strength.
--[] Send some scarabs and deathmarks to lay low on vessels that survive when main force pulls away. Reveil when helpfull
-[] Hide them.
--[] offer exrta supplys
-[] The Light cruisers.
-[] Hit and run tactics.
I would like to remind that we may play suggestions outside of offered options or add some details. Hopefully my are permitable.
Entering is difficult. Going out is less so, but it's dangerous. You could end up in a becalmed section of the warp.
- Location
- yorkshire
[X]Who has the high ground now,Obi-Wan
I think it's time to vote
I think it's time to vote