[X] Plan: To Survive
-[X] Skald Action: Call upon our alliance with the Tau to Defend against this great Waaagh!, any help they can spare would be greatly appreciated in our time of dire need, promise a honourbound debt on our part.
-[X] Godi Action: While combi-weapons are undeniably effective they face 2 major issues. They must be individually crafted by your chapters Tech Marines and the secondary weapon usually has very little ammo. You have come to an interesting solution to this problem. If your Tech Marines could find a way to attach specialist pistols to the bottom of your bolters then your brothers could have far more flexibility in combat. This solution has two problems however. The bulk of the standard Godwyn bolter would prevent any under mounted weapon and the specialist pistols will have to be redesigned to fit them. The reward for solving this problem, however, is too great to pass up. Order your Godi's to start designing a slimmer, more customizable bolter with undermounted weapons in mind.
-[X]Free actions
--[X] Request any and all help the Carmine talons can spare to harass the Steel hunger/Heimdal, inform them about the protector of Asgardia, if they capture the Protector of Asgardia, inform them they are free to keep it.
--[X] Order the sector to prepare to transition to war footing, order the fortress monastery locked down.
--[X] Order two tech marines to investigate the contemptor dreadnought's reactor, to both learn how to better make it, and to be able to scale it such that it may power the Foundry found in our fortress monastery
-[X] Deployments
--[X] The Asgardia Crusade (1st,2nd,3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th,8th,10,11th,12th,13th Companies,
Might of Storms, 1,2nd,3rd,4th,5th Chapter Fleets)
--[X] Home Guard (9th Company)
---[X] don't explore the bunker.
-[X] Production (21 Points & 6 Techmarine available)
--[X] 3 Castaferrum-pattern Dreadnoughts 12 PP (3 tech marines)
--[X] 20 Heavy Weapons 4 PP
--[X] 25 Jump Packs 5 PP
-[X]Development (Total Income = +80 RP per turn)
--[X]Recruitment
---[X]Train and equip the 6th Midgardia Mechanised with Carapace armour, to turn them into heavy mechanised 1RP
---[X] Raise 4 Armoured regiments from Midguardia who are Trained(-24Rp)
----[X] Equip them with Baneblades
---[X] Raise 4 Artillery Regiments from Midguardia who are Trained (-24Rp)
---[X] Raise 2 Fighter Regiments from Grisnir who are Green (-12Rp)
---[X] Raise 2 Fighter Regiments from Jostir who are Green (-12Rp)
---[X] Raise 1 Heavy airborne Regiment from Grisnir who are Green (-4RP)
---[X] Raise 1 Heavy mechanised regiment From Jostir who are Green (-3RP)
---[X] Call all garrisoned Storm Guard to Midguardia to prepare for a Counter attack.
-[X]Chapter organisation
--[X] Assign a predator Baal to 7th company, crewing it by taking from 9-10.
--[X] Assign Chapter Relic "BloodSteel of Martyr's" to the veteran sergeant who's squad died creating it.
--[X] Unassign All Tarantula Turrets
--[X] Assign 62 Tarantula Turrets to 1st through 10th company, with 61 Turrets assigned to 11th, 12th and 13th Company.
Your first warning that something was wrong was when the three Imperial strike cruisers began to assault and breach the orbital defences, smashing aside the defensive platforms that got in their way. It took you mere moments to get yourself ready and rally your Honour Guard yet by the time you reached the command centre, the first of the enemy drop pods and Thunderhawks had already begun to descend from the skies.
"Report!" you demand as you stride into the command centre.
"Three hostile Astartes strike cruisers, milord," reports one of the Vanaheim Valkyries on duty, barely glancing up from her display, "Heraldry identifies them as the Dark Angels, the Angels of Redemption and the Angels of Vengeance."
The Dark Angels and two of their 2nd Founding Successor Chapters. That is dire news and three strike cruisers from three different chapters likely mean three companies of enemy Space Marines about to fall on Vanaheim. The Vanaheim Valkyries are fierce, but your only friendly Astartes are you and your fellow Triumvirate members along with your respective Honour Guards. You are all highly skilled, the best fighters in your Chapters, but against three companies of sons of the Lion? Things are looking grim.
"Ovald, Osmadiel," you call into the vox, "You are aware of the attack?"
"Aye," replies the Iron Sentinel without hesitation, "I shall act as a reserve. I see you have the command centre?"
"I shall guard the vaults and let them know of my presence," says Osmadiel, "I suspect they are here for me and my brothers so baiting them into the heart of our defences seems wise."
"Do you have a quarrel with them?" you inquire.
"No, but why else would my brothers be assaulting this world?" answers Osmadiel with a humourless laugh, "I know the truth of our gene-father's actions and loyalties. They are here to silence my knowledge of the truth, I am certain of it."
"Then we shall show them some truths are not so easily silenced," you reply grimly.
Part of you recoils from the idea of fighting fellow loyalist Astartes, but you squash that without a moment's hesitation. You chose your path almost a century ago now and sooner or later you would have to fight fellow servants of the God-Emperor at some point. The only alternative was dying before that happened.
Another part of you is disgusted at the waste. Three companies of the Adeptus Astartes sent to slay a non-threat. A waste of wargear, gene-seed, warships and battle-brothers that could have been used to fight one of Mankind's true enemies. Instead, only the blood of the faithful will be spilled today. No matter who wins this day, the God-Emperor and all of Mankind will lose.
You can only strive for your own victory as you know that you seek to make things better.
"Drop pods in the hive!" screeches a guardswoman over the vox, "Drop pods have landed in the hive!"
"One enemy gunship down, but the anti-air turrets are under attack," reports another Valkyrie, "Enemy Astartes spotted, requesting Shieldmaiden assets."
"Enemy angels in the Upper Hive," shouts a third woman and so it goes on, as Hive Vanir is assaulted by the might of three Space Marine companies.
The blood will flow freely on this day and Hive Vanir will once again be set ablaze as war comes to the capital of the Asgardia Sector. The Vanaheim Valkyries will fight fiercely to defend their homeworld while the detachment of Battlefleet Asgardia in orbit will attempt to hunt down the enemy strike cruisers.
The Dark Angels and their allies cannot be allowed to run rampant and you have the perfect idea of how to bait them in. Even now, the knowledge of Osmadiel's location is baiting the invaders in and you shall split their attention.
"To all sons of the Lion," you call into a vox channel that you know the enemy will be monitoring, "This is Chapter Master Torvald Thunderson of the Storm Avengers and the Asgardian Triumvirate. I know the truth of your Primarch's actions at Caliban. How he destroyed his own homeworld, how he turned on his own sons and betrayed without warning. I know of your great shame and I know that you are here to silence those who know the truth about it."
"Honourless heretic!" a furious voice roars back over the vox, "You spew naught, but the most foul of lies. I, Master Gilnael Narmor of the Angels of Vengeance, shall bring you to justice and make you repent the fetid words that come out of your mouth."
"You know where I am," you retort and a quick check of the tactical feeds confirms your suspicions.
Before, the invading force had been pushing towards Osmadiel's position, but now perhaps a third of them has broken off and begun to make its way to the command centre.
"Warrior-Women of Vanaheim," you call out to the Vanaheim Valkyries around you, "The enemy is at our gates and fights their way to us. Show them your valour, show them your fury and show them how a true servant of the God-Emperor fights!"
And yet despite their cheers of approval, you know that most if not all of them will die. To stand against the Angels of Death is a dangerous task for even the greatest of mortals. Yet if they bring down just one enemy Astartes for every hundred of them that falls, it will make a difference.
"Chapter Master," calls your Champion Sig, "We have some Shieldmaidens with us. Their hellguns can pierce their power armour."
"Hopefully it will be enough," you comment, "It pains me to slay those who consider themselves faithful to the God-Emperor, but these fools brought it upon themselves by coming here."
"Do you think they judge us in the same manner?" muses Sig.
"I doubt they give us such consideration, but it matters little," you reply, "The sons of the Lion are here and we must expel them from Vanaheim."
"Milord, Battlefleet Asgardia reports they are moving to intercept the enemy strike cruisers," reports one of the Vanaheim Valkyries.
That will hopefully see the enemy's escape driven off or at least disruptive. Perhaps one or more will be destroyed or even captured, but despite the mettle of Battlefleet Asgardia, they are not equal to your battle-brothers or your huskarls. They will do their best, but you don't expect to see the same results you would get from your Chapter.
It isn't long before the first of the invaders arrive, Space Marines clad in the black armour of the Angels of Vengeance, looking unerringly similar to the Knights of Caliban. They exchange bolterfire with the lasfire of the Vanaheim Valkyries and you leap into action. Barely slowed down by the
Aegis of Antonius, you swiftly cross the distance as you move into melee range.
The first Angel of Vengeance barely has time to notice your presence before the
Worthy Thunderer has shattered the ceramite of his breastplate and pulverised his chest. The second begins to raise his boltgun to aim the weapon at you, but a flick of your thunder hammer takes off his head. Around you, your Honour Guard takes apart the enemy squad with ancient weapons that are barely seen in the modern era while Sig practically executes the enemy sergeant.
"Valkyries and Avengers!" you roar as you raise
Worthy Thunderer high into the air, "For Asgardia! For the Primarch! For Asgardia!"
"For Asgardia!" comes the echoing call from your battle-brothers and the surviving guardswomen.
Then a lascannon strikes Torsten in the shoulder, blowing the arm off of your Honour Guard, a veteran of close to three centuries of warfare. You snap your head around to
"For the Lion!" shouts a second squad approaching Angels of Vengeance, one fireteam taking up an overwatch position with a lascannon while the sergeant leads the other fireteam forwards.
You meet them in kind, charging with a wordless battlecry as you move to avenge your felled battle-brother.
***
"Solrek Mortoss, 3rd Captain of the Death Guard or that was the title I held before I went into stasis," reports the Death Guard, the man's armour still stained with the blood of the Angels of Redemption that he slaughtered in close quarters.
"And you are loyal to the God-Emperor?" you ask cautiously.
"My loyalty is and always has been to the Emperor of Mankind," answers Solrek pointedly, but you refuse to be intimidated.
This man might be a veteran of the Great Crusade and fought alongside the God-Emperor and the Primarchs, but that also makes him your junior. He can't have fought for more than two centuries while you are approaching the end of your fifth.
"Solrek and his brothers are with us," says Osmadiel, "Even if their numbers are few, we can count upon them."
In an act of semi-desperation as the Grand Master of the Angels of Redemption bears down on the Knights of Caliban with the Veterans of his Chapter's 1st Company at his back, Osmadiel make the decision to release the Death Guard from their stasis pods. You understood the reasoning. Few Imperials would be willing to let several members of a Traitor Legion live even if those members had remained loyal. The idea of the Traitors Legions still having loyalists after so long was just unthinkable.
In the end, the Knights of Caliban and the Death Guard acted as the anvil while Ovald and his Iron Sentinels were the hammer alongside the Vanaheim Valkyries. While you fought a bloody battle against the unrelenting Angels of Vengeance, the other sons of Lion had been baited into the trap. A trap that the Angels of Redemption had rushed into, seeing most of their 1st Company slain by the entrenched defences. Once their Grand Master had been slain by Solrek in a duel, the handful of surviving Angels of Redemption had withdrawn, their retreat covered by the remaining Dark Angels.
If only the Angels of Vengeance had been as considerate, but those stubborn fools fought to the last. Against a real enemy of Mankind, it could be a noble trait, but those damn idiots had brought low half of your Honour Guard along with far too many Vanaheim Valkyries. Three of your long-time brothers were outright dead while another two were barely fit to be entombed in a Dreadnought.
Battlefleet Asgardia had tried to intercept the fleeing strike cruisers, but they had barely got a handful of assault boats aboard the vessel of the Dark Angels. That short-lived boarding action had been handily repelled and in short order, the enemy warship had entered the warp alongside its fellow strike cruisers.
Despite the heavy losses to the Vanaheim Valkyries alongside your own painful losses and the extensive damage to Hive Vanir, the battle was undeniably a victory. Of the invading force, less than a third left the planet alive. You would rather the battle never happened in the first place, but it was an honourable victory that you could be proud of.
It would only be later that you would learn that the assault on Vanaheim was simply one part of a larger crusade by the sons of the Lions against the Asgardia Sector.
3 Battle-Brothers are killed. 3 Gene-Seed Recovered. (Honour Guard).
2 Battle-Brothers are entombed. (Honour Guard).
Looted 21 Power Weapons
Looted 16 Specialist Weapons
Looted 20 Heavy Weapons
Looted 46 Jump Packs
Looted 1 suits of Artificer Armour
Looted 3 Iron Halos
Looted 1 Rosarius
Looted 33 suits of Indomitus-pattern Terminator Armour
What loot do you prioritise laying claim to?
[ ] None.
[ ] Write-in. (Up to three items)
***
When you gave the order to recall the Storm Guard to Midgardia and raise up its numbers, you had planned to use them to launch a counter-attack against whatever dire threat that Steffen's vision had warned your Chief Librarian of. Instead, they stood as a much-needed bulwark against a dire threat to Midgardia.
Three strike cruisers and their escorts entered the Gard Sub-Sector. They tried to be subtle, but your new Dark Age sensors detect them as soon as they come within range. The Angels of Vengeance, the Disciples of Caliban and the Knights of Crimson Order. The sons of the Lion made their way directly for Midgardia, where a planned ambush waited for them.
The enemy was allowed to land for Midgardia would be their tomb. On their descent, rookie Thunderbolt pilots give their lives in great numbers to shoot down some of the enemy Thunderhawks. Drop pods and gunships disgorge their squads into fortifications manned by the Storm Guard and the Midgardia PDF.
Baneblades and Leman Russes duel Predators and Land Raiders while artillery bombards defensive positions as the enemy assaults them. Lasguns might be ineffective against power armour, but plasma guns, lascannons, krak missiles and other heavy weapons are not. The Carapace armour provides its value many times over as while bolter fire might tear though flak armour as if it wasn't there, carapace armour is made of sterner stuff.
The mortal defenders of Midgardia account for almost a third of the invading enemy on their own. It is their actions that lay the stage for 9th Company to throw back the sons of the Lion. Something that starts with using the anti-orbital laser to blow the strike cruiser belonging to the Knights of the Crimson Order out of the sky as it tries to lay siege to
Aula Fortis. The carcass of the warship falls through the atmosphere in a fiery display as the once mighty vessel becomes a new set of ruins on Midgardia, thankfully landing far away from any major settlements.
Before the invaders can react, the Storm Avengers launch boarding actions against both of the remaining strike cruisers. The sons of Guilliman storm aboard the Angels of Vengeance warship. Initial success by the Storm Avengers is swiftly stifled as the Angels of Vengeance have sent their 1st Company to Midgardia with casualties rapidly mounting on both sides. In the end, the boarders are repelled as more veterans arriving from the surface forces them to retreat. Especially when one of the fallen is Captain Peder Freeson himself.
Yet despite the small victory, the invasion of Midgardia is clearly going against the sons of the Lion and they know it. With the losses they sustained, they would struggle to beat the remainder of the Storm Guard let alone breach the defences of
Aula Fortis. In a moment of wisdom, the invaders make their first smart decision since arriving in the Asgardia Sector and make the call to retreat, the Knights of the Crimson Order splitting their remaining brothers between the surviving strike cruisers.
The Storm Avengers don't let them get away gently. While the strike cruiser of the Disciples of the Caliban escapes their grasp, the Angels of Vengeance are less fortunate. The surviving brothers of 9th Company are very eager to avenge the attack on their home and their fallen comrades. This time, there is no escape for the Angels of Vengeance and there is no mercy as Storm Avengers and their huskarls flood the warship.
Of the three strike cruisers that came for Midgardia, only one leaves and it does so with barely over a third of the invasion force aboard.
52 Battle-Brothers are killed. 49 Gene-Seed Recovered. (9th Company)
14 Battle-Brothers are promoted to Veteran. (9th Company)
4 Battle-Brothers are entombed (9th Company)
Captain Peder Freeson is entombed (9th Company)
Librarian Heimir Skyson is killed. Gene-Seed Recovered (9th Company)
Librarian Vidar Nightson is killed. Gene-Seed Recovered (9th Company)
Techmarine Stein Lightson is killed. Gene-Seed Recovered (9th Company)
Strike Cruiser Vengeful Sword
is captured.
All Dark Angel Relics and Gene-Seed are gifted to the Knights of Caliban
Looted 17 Power Weapons
Looted 43 Specialist Weapons
Looted 46 Heavy Weapons
Looted 28 Jump Packs
Looted 1 suits of Artificer Armour
Looted 1 Iron Halo
Looted 1 Rosarius
Looted 24 suits of Indomitus-pattern Terminator Armour
Looted 8 suits of Cataphractii-pattern Terminator Armour
Looted Land Raider Phobos Leonis Ira
Looted Land Raider Phobos Angeli Furia
Looted Land Raider Crusader Vindicta Militis
Looted 4 Razorbacks
Looted 16 Rhinos
Looted 8 Whirlwinds
Looted 8 Predator Destructors
Looted 1 Predator Annihilator
Looted 2 Castaferrum-pattern Dreadnoughts
Looted 1 Stormtalon
***
The battle of Mjolnir began much like the battle of Midgardia and Vanaheim as three strike cruisers, each belonging to a different Dark Angels Chapter, descended upon the homeworld of the Iron Sentinels. The Persecutors of Darkness led the invasion with their Grand Master and 1st Company, supported by two battle companies of the Knights of the Crimson Order and the Angels of Redemption. Three hundred Astartes against the mere hundred Iron Sentinels that garrisoned
Arx Ferrea.
The opening move was a daring one by Captain Ingvar as the Iron Sentinel took a cue from his brothers in the Storm Avengers. Using the orbital defence platforms, half of his company boarded the strike cruiser of the Persecutors of Darkness. Their goal was not to capture the vessel, but to destroy the warship entirely, to deny the invaders their greatest assets.
Outnumbered two to one and outclassed by their opponents, the Iron Sentinels fought bravely and valiantly. While not a single son of Guilliman left the strike cruiser, their mission was ultimately a success as the strike cruiser's plasma drive was overloaded, destroying the warship utterly and slaying everyone onboard. A small, but costly victory as half of the defending Astartes had died to slay just a third of the invading ones.
Enraged by the deaths of their brothers, the Angels of Redemption and the Knights of the Crimson Order carved a bloody path through the Mjolnir PDF. While they paid a price for it, a score of slain brothers was a tolerable price for clearing the way to besiege
Arx Ferrea. Captain Ingvar had the survivors of 2nd Company bunker down in the fortress-monastery, hoping that reinforcements would arrive from off-world, but none came. Not from the companies on patrol nor from those sent to the crusade. The defenders of Mjolnir stood on their own, fighting from behind the walls of
Arx Ferrea.
In the end, they wouldn't be enough. The sons of the Lion breached the fortification, slaughtering the serfs and battle-brothers of the Iron Sentinels as they flooded into the fortress-monastery. The Iron Sentinels fought a fierce and brutal defence, but in the end, even their knowledge of the terrain proved not enough as the Angels of Redemption forced their way in, supported by the Knights of the Crimson Order.
Bloody close quarter combat saw the Iron Sentinels forced to slowly concede ground as their losses continued to mount. In the end, Captain Ingvar made the hardest and final decision of his life.
Arx Ferrea could not be held and so it must be denied to the enemy. Seizing Gene-Seed, relics and other vital items he could, he had the surviving serf bring them to the lowest depths of the catacombs and sealed them in the strongest protection that could be mustered up in such short notice.
Securing what he could in hopes of the next visitors to Mjolnir would be his brothers or friends of the Chapter, Captain Ingvar activated the self-destruct of the fortress-monastery before launching one last counter-attack against the enemy. The Angels of Redemption and the Knights of the Crimson Order butchered the Iron Sentinels as the sons of Guilliman gave their lives to keep the enemy busy. The last of 2nd Company almost died to a man, the last handful of brothers barely hanging on as the plasma reactors overloaded.
The ensuing explosion takes out all of
Arx Ferrea, leaving a crater where the home of the Iron Sentinels once stood. One last act of defiance by the defenders, ensuring that the invaders died with them.
The two strike cruisers in orbit left shortly after that, staying only long enough to confirm that none of the invading force had survived and performing several orbital bombardments against the major settlements of Mjolnir.
***
The first part of the result phrase, which is looking to be at least a three parter. For the record, you get to keep all of the loot from Midgardia, but you have to share the loot at Vanaheim with the Iron Sentinels and the Knights of Caliban.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to.
