[X] Plan: Getting the Carrot and using the Stick
-[X] Skalds: Go meet the Carmine Talons with Master of Sanctity Jannis and request a Company's help in fighting against Forge World Baldur who has attacked Forge World Sif for embracing the God-Emperor entirely. Also inform them of the Prodigal Brethren and the strength they've gathered and float the idea of a tech trade.
-[X] Investigate Minvir and figure out how they got such defences as a Star Fort and Titans.
-[X] Call in an Honorbound Favour from the Iron Sentinels to have a Company help at Sif
-[X] Setup 60 more Test Slaves
-[X] Home Guard: 4th Company
-[X] The Lost Titan: 8th Company, 3rd Company
-[X] Forge World Sif: Torvald, Might of Storms, 1st Fleet, 2nd Fleet, 1st Company, 9th Company
-[X] Production:
—[X] 2 Adamantine Mantles (10 PP)
—[X] 10 Jump Packs (2 PP)
—[X] 1 Razorback (Heavy Flamer) (3PP)
—[X] 12 Tarantula Turrets (Multi-Laser) (4PP)
-[X] Subsector Development
—[X] Minvir: Industrial Complex (10 RP)
—[X] Errant Armour Manufactorum (4/100 RP)
-[X] Chapter Organisation
—[X] Give the Honor Guard and Chapter Champion access to Archaeotech Specialist Weapons
—[X] Assign 1 Razorback (Heavy Bolter), 40 Artificer Armor, 45 more Archaeotech Power Weapons, 15 Archaeotech Heavy Weapons and 20 Archaeotech Specialist Weapons to 1st Company
—[X] Assign 9 Marines from 4th Company to crew 2 Landspeeder Storms, 2 Land Raiders and 1 Razorback (Heavy Bolter) and 4 Marines from 3rd Company to crew 4 Rhinos
—[X] Assign 2 Landspeeder Storms and 30 Bikes to 10th Company
—[X] Assign 4 Rhinos to 9th Company
—[X] Assign Land Raider Phobos Storm of Penance to 7th Company
—[X] Assign Land Raider Phobos Fury of Redemption to 3rd Company
—[X] transfer 2 tarantula turrets from each company to the 10th
—[X] Permit All Champions and Captains use of Archaeotech Power Weapons and Artificer Armor
Skald-Commander Birgit Bjornsen approaches confidently as she approaches the training field where Aphalin Kephata, Chapter Master of the Carmine Talons awaits. She had initially been worried that the nominally traitor status of the Storm Avengers would get in the way of the traditional friendship between the two Chapters, but it seemed that Chapter Master Torvald's prediction had been correct. Rather than imprison or execute her, the guards had checked with the Chapter Master of the Carmine Talons and then a battle-brother of the Carmine Talons had shown up to escort her to Aphalin.
While this is Birgit's first time actually meeting with the Carmine Talons, she had learnt about this particular group of sons of Sanguinius like all Skalds of the Storm Avengers. Founded three thousand years ago in the 22nd Founding, the Carmine Talons were originally a fleet-based Chapter before earning the right to settle down in the Choth Sector two thousand years ago. Unlike the Storm Avengers who take an active hand in the governing of their homeworld, the Carmine Talons are hands off and have little to do with their local population before searching for aspirants and performing regular hunts for heretics and mutants.
In terms of belief, the Carmine Talons are odd if acceptable as they believe in the purity of their flesh, seeing it as holy perfection granted to them by their gene-father and the God-Emperor. They train their bodies and minds harshly and fiercely as they seek to be ready for any challenge. While the Adeptus Mechanicus proclaims the weakness of flesh, the Carmine Talons profess the inferiority of the machine. They disdain biotics and when one of their brothers loses a body part, they always make sure to clone an organic replacement as not a single Carmine Talon uses bionics.
This has led to an obvious conflict between the Carmine Talons and the Adeptus Mechanicus though it rarely leads to outright conflict. Instead, the Carmine Talons are shunned by forge worlds and are forced to rely upon the local industry of their home world. Considering their homeworld is a hive world, that has proven more and sufficient for their needs.
And it is that enmity that Chapter Master Torvald is counting on. That the Carmine Talons will leap at the chance to the aid of their long-time allies against their long-time rivals.
When Birgit enters the training yard, she is greeted by the sight of sweaty and near-naked Astartes sparring with each other, sometimes with blades and sometimes with fists. Taking a moment to compose herself, the Skald-Commander lets herself to be led to Aphalin Kephata, where the man is training blows with two of his brothers.
"Little daughter of the Storm Avengers!" calls Alphalin as the spar ends in a moment and the Chapter Master of the Carmine Talons turns to greet Birgit, "What brings you to my halls?"
"The Storm Avengers would request your aid," says Birgit, "They go to war with two forge worlds in the Asgardia Sector and would request a company of the Carmine Talons come to their aid."
"A company?" exclaims Alphalin as the brothers around stiffen at Birgit's words, "For the aid of our oldest friends, against the cogheads? Nay, we shall send more than just a company. Little daughter, let the Storm Avengers know that their cousins will send whatever aid they can spare."
***
The strike force that goes to Forge World Sif is an impressive one. The Storm Avengers commit all three available battle barges along with five strike cruisers and all of their assorted escorts while the Chapter Master will be going with 1st Company and 9th Company. The Iron Sentinels will honour the debt owed to their brothers by sending their 2nd Company while the Carmine Talons have gone above and beyond what Torvald Thunderson requested. Instead of sending a single company, the sons of Sanguinius had sent half of their chapter to aid the Storm Avengers as the Carmine Talons committed their Death Company, 1st Company, 2nd Company, 3rd Company, 4th Company and 10th Company.
Four battle barges, a dozen strike cruisers and nine hundred space marines. Enough to shatter whatever force is invading Forge World Sif and it does just that.
Alas, it isn't just the forces of Baldur and Freya who are invading Forge World Sif. Despite the warnings of the Storm Avengers, Forge World Thor has chosen to join Baldur and Sif, committing themselves to purging Sif of its hereteks. And so the might of three Chapters contends with the might of three Forge Worlds.
The Adeptus Mechanicus fleets are broken as their technological superiority proves inferior to the hard won experience and boarding expertise of the Angels of Death. A
Retribution-class Battleship from Baldur is destroyed as are the two
Mars-class Battlecruisers sent by Freya as the Adeptus Mechanicus overload the plasma drives of their own warships rather than let them all into the hands of their foes. Yet despite the best efforts of their respective crews, several warships are captured by the Storm Avengers as the boarding parties are able to secure their engines and reactors before the sabotage can be carried out.
Yet the battle isn't entirely in favour of the Space Marines. Of the three forge worlds, Thor does the best as they force one of the Carmine Talon strike cruisers to make an emergency warp jump, cripple the
Carmine Falconer and retreat in good order. Meanwhile the destruction of Baldur's battleship also strikes a hefty blow to the Iron Sentinels as their 2nd Company was boarding at the time. Their strike cruiser emerged from the explosion crippled whilst four squads, including Captain Bulvik, were still aboard the battleship when its plasma drives overloaded.
With the void secured, the Angels of Death were able to descend on Sif. The Tech-Guard of Baldur and Freya fought back, but cut off from supplies and reinforcements whilst caught between the Adeptus Astartes and the Adepta Sororita, they can do little apart from die valiantly.
The solo exception is Legio Fulgaran and their supporting formations. Despite offers by the Storm Avengers and their allies to surrender, the God-Machines refuse to stand down. While even the titans can do little to resist the onslaught, Legio Fulgaran is able to dig into part of Sif. Any attempts to rout them out are met with an unyielding defence and even a bid to bring the
Might of Storms to bear on them sees the battle barge beaten back by the anti-orbital fire.
Yet even as Legio Fulgaran continues to hold out the invasion of Sif is broken. The fleets and armies of Baldur and Freya have been broken while Thor's fleet has been beaten back.
Even as the task force regroups and rallies at Sif, news arrives from Thor in the form of the
Huntress of Heresy along with the 1st and 5th Companies of the Iron Sentinels. In response to the Iron Sentinels and Storm Avengers joining the fight at Sif in force, Forge World Thor attempted to seize the warships under repair of the respective Chapters. Fortunately, both battle barges were saved as their 1st Company successfully saved the
Huntress of Heresy while their 5th Company aided the huskarls in their defence of the
Ardent Storm.
With their newly arrived reinforcements, the 5th Company of the Iron Sentinels is swiftly folded into their depleted 2nd Company as the captain of 5th Company becomes the replacement for the late Captain Burvik.
Now that Forge World Sif is mostly secured, the task force is left to plot their next move against the forge worlds allied against them.
Strike Cruiser Carmine Falconer
is crippled. Requires one Major Favour to repair.
3 Gladius
-class Frigates are destroyed.
Iron Sentinels repay Major Favour by saving Ardent Storm.
Gain one Honourbound Favour with Forge World Sif.
Gain two Major Favours with the Order of the Sacred Storm.
Relationship with Forge World Sif changes to Honoured.
Relationship with the Order of the Sacred Storm changes to Honoured.
Relationship with Forge World Baldur changes to Despised.
Relationship with Forge World Freya changes to Despised.
Relationship with Forge World Thor changes to Bad.
Use plan voting.
The Storm Avengers have captured seven cruisers and five light cruisers. Each is worth one Major Favour.
[ ] Write-in who gets what.
Available options are Battlefleet Asgardia, Forge World Loki, Forge World Odin, Forge World Sif, Order of the Sacred Storm and Sub-Battlefleet Gard.
What does the task force do next?
[ ] Write-in battleplan.
Available targets are Baldur (Offence), Freya (Offence), Thor (Offence), Sif (Defence)
Storm Avengers
Chapter Master Torvald & Chapter Honour Guard
1st Company (100)
-Strike Cruiser & Escorts
9th Company (88)
-Strike Cruiser & Escorts
1st Chapter Fleet
-Battle Barge
Unyielding Defiance, Vanguard Cruisers & Escorts
Battle Barge
Might of Storms & Escorts
Battle Barge
Void Thunderer & Escorts
Iron Sentinels
1st Company (30)
-Strike Cruiser
2nd Company (70)
-Strike Cruiser
Battle Barge
Huntress of Heresy
Carmine Talons
Chapter Master Alphalin & Chapter Honour Guard
Death Company (80)
-Strike Cruiser
1st Company (100)
-Strike Cruiser & Escorts
2nd Company (100)
-Strike Cruiser & Escorts
3rd Company (100)
-Strike Cruiser & Escorts
4th Company (94)
-Strike Cruiser & Escorts
10th Company (90)
-Strike Cruiser
Battle Barge
Sanguinis Aquilia
Forge World Sif
War Cohort I (71%)
War Cohort II (71%)
War Cohort III (70%)
War Cohort IV (73%)
War Cohort V (79%)
War Cohort VI (73%)
War Cohort VII (64%)
Fleet Alpha (58%)
Fleet Beta (94%)
Fleet Gamma (64%)
Order of the Sacred Storm
1st Preceptory (1,000)
2nd Preceptory (1,000)
5th Preceptory (1,000)
Sub-Battlefleet Sif
-2
Dauntless-class Light Cruisers, 5
Sword-class Frigates & 5
Cobra-class Destroyers.
***
In the Ymir Sub-Sector, the heretics fight steadfastly as they attempt to hold the line against the Imperial Guard. Perhaps if it was only mortal men and women they had to contend with, the rebels could have held their own. Yet the heretics weren't so fortunate as they faced the Angels of Death in force.
While the hammer of the Imperial Guard systematically shattered the heretical lines, the Storm Avengers and Iron Sentinels cleared the way as the space marines targeted key parts of the rebel defence. Officers were assassinated, ammo depots were detonated and strongholds were broken.
The Ymir Sub-Sector hadn't fully been reclaimed yet, but the years of fighting had seen the backbone of the rebellion shattered. There were still rebel holdouts on multiple worlds and only a handful of planets had been fully reclaimed, but the heretics were scattered and disorganised. While it still required time and effort to eliminate the last of the rebels, the revolt that had lasted decades had finally been defeated for all intents and purposes.
***
Unfortunately for the Asgardia Sector, the rest of it wasn't seeing as much success as the Storm Avengers. While the sons of Guilliman were crushing their foes, other enemies of mankind had struck at different parts of it.
While still smarting from their failed invasion of Freya, the Darcs Coalition sought to try their hand at claiming the technological secrets of mankind once again. Hoping to take advantage of Forge World Odin's weakened state, the xenos send an invasion force to Odin. Several Darc capital ships and thrice that in escort-weight ships had descended upon the forge world. Odin's defenders had held the line so far, but still weary and weak from the recent invasion, it would only be a matter of a few years before the Darcs overwhelmed them.
In other parts of the Asgardia Sector, there have been reports of Chaos Space Marines, twisted battle-sisters calling themselves the Daughters of Celeste. Operating out of a strike cruiser which was tentatively identified as the one the Daughters of Celeste had fled Mjolnir on, these heretical Asartes were striking targets of minor importance across the Asgardia Sector. Despite there being no identifiable pattern to their seemingly irrelevant targets, the general consensus amongst the Storm Avenger leadership is that the Daughters of Celestes are training their new recruits. For all intents and purposes, they seem to be deploying their equivalent of a 10th Company to give their newest members proper combat experience.
Yet the worst news came from the Vanir Sub-Sector, where the sector capital Vanaheim lies. While the capital had been spared the hardships of the Asgardia Sector so far, that had recently come to an end. A pretender to House Reximus had arisen, a foul traitor backed by large parts of the Asgardian aristocracy and, far more concerningly, the Kabal of the Black Reaping.
A cousin of the Lord Sector, Harald Reximus, has claimed Hive World Boer, the other hive world in the Vanir Sub-Sector, as his temporary capital until his attempts to seize Vanaheim see fruit. With the element of surprise and support from both PDF units and house troops, Harald Reximus has been able to secure Boer and is making major headway on most of the other worlds in the Vanir Sub-Sector. The Dark Eldar have only further strengthened his position by paying upon his enemies, striking at the forces loyal to Sigurdr Reximus and sowing chaos and devastation amongst them.
In just a couple of years, Harald Reximus is able to bring half of the sub-sector to heel though he runs the issue that his void assets are limited beyond what the Black Reaping provides him with while his cousin can still call upon Battlefleet Asgardia. That said, the civil war has already begun to inflict significant devastation upon the Vanir Sub-Sector, something that is only guaranteed to happen if things are allowed to get dragged out.
And things will only get worse if Harald Reximus is able to spread his reach beyond the Vanir Sub-Sector and into the wider Asgardia Sector.
***
So things have gone well for you where you've been involved. The Carmine Talons came through for you by sending half the chapter when you asked for a company whilst Thor barely passed the roll for them to work up the courage to join the fighting. Despite that, you kicked butt at Sif while the fighting at Ymir is finally winding down.
Beyond that, the Darcs are once again attempting to take advantage of AdMech weakness while you get some more Imperial infighting to worry about even as Ymir is mostly dealt with.
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.
