Segutiine 117-θ's Gambit
Military action
Son's of Horus legionaries, at the behest of Archmagos Segutiine 117-θ, do battle with the loyal scions of the mechanicum and their legions of tech thralls and automata, in order to penetrate the loyalist tech-net.
++Titan Yards++
Kagaddon found himself once again shoulder to shoulder, the noise of the engine drowning out every other sound, and the only illumination being a single red light above him. He had lived this moment a thousand times, racing towards their objective ready to burst out into the heart of battle, but this time it was different. It was not his voice that rang out across the vox, but that of Archmagos Segutiine 117-θ. "Deliver the device to the relay. We must not surrender the Ark". The command was sent out laden with technological babble and rapid binary.
He looked to either side of him. These weren't even his companions. They were souless abominations born of dark technological arts wearing the faces of his brothers. As battle commenced, the ramp crashed down, and the warriors of the Sixteenth cried out a pledge to the dark Gods, Kagaddon realised that there was no more glory to be had here. The Thrall hordes of Magos Kane approached. The shambling mobs and Cybernetica giants moved to halt the advance of the Sons of Horus with weight of fire and bodies. Kagaddon used to look at the lobotomites with disdain but he realised now the Warmaster's allies were not above such science.
He watched on hopelessly as two Javelin speeders rocketed to the front lines, unleashing salvos of missiles and screaming out for bloodshed before detonating under fire from the Mechanicum's ranks. He was brought-to when the unpleasant grating voice of the Archmagos rang in his ears "the data console. Now." A Justaerin inserted the device moments before being vaporised by a ball of plasma, and at once the terminals crackled as the data djinn passed through them in turn. The static was laden with the leering faces of daemons and the screams that Kagaddon had heard upon his ship, which mingled with the maniacal laughter that spread across the vox wave. A gun emplacement, that he had thought was long dormant, rose to full power. "More time is required. Annihilate them." came the voice again.
Kagaddon watched as a Triaros disgorged yet more Thralls, and began to lurch toward them with it's shock-prow ignited. He attempted to rally the disparate forces; "Sons of Horus! To me!" but only his most trusted Lieutenants and Chieftains came to his aid. A Contemptor, garbed in Cthonic runes and kill-trophies, clambered atop the relay hub to issue a challenge to any that would face him, a tactical reserve squad cut their vox link and went about dismantling thralls, before another Triaros plowed through them. The Loyalists' own weapon batteries were now coming to life, and Earthshaker rounds pounded the area around Kagaddon and his allies. Conveyance of Slaughter's tracks blew apart, their method of extraction compromised, and the beast within it boiled with rage. Another weapon battery opened fire and tore through the ranks of Thralls, yet they continued their unrelenting march. Arcus warheads flew overhead, striking the Castellax and causing a chain of explosions.
The Triaros that had been looming over Kagaddon threatened to accelerate through them. He began to panic, and for a moment even thought about fleeing, before a melta beam cut through the Mechanicum tank and stopped it dead. Kagaddon was about to commend the legionary that was responsible but was met with cold indifference, even as more of them were cut down in front of him. Chieftain Malkos appeared, and deftly co-ordinated a shieldwall. "Captain, we shall see to it. Make your leave". Kagaddon did not question the Chieftain's order for a moment. He gave the order to fall back, his retreat fired upon all the way. A building ahead of him was vaporised in a bright flash, the marines inside burnt away or crushed under rubble. "Ark co-ordinates located. Preparing teleportarium. Return to me and we shall end this war swift-". Kagaddon cut the link. He had had enough of the Tech Priest. And this war.
(TURN 1:SoH moved up. Shocker. Kagaddon and Justaerin jumped out and took the centre immediately. Mechanicum took very minimal casualties from shooting. In their own turn moved closer to the obj and around the far side of the board. Blobs of Thralls disembark and by trading shots and reactions 2 Javelins go down. Only SoH contesting the centre for now. Both forgot to roll on the table.
TURN 2: SoH Thunderhawk cannon scored a direct hit on the Thanatar, Knight, and Castellax, chipping wounds off each. Chieftains in a raider came to backup the objective, Dreadnaught took height advantage but only stripped the odd hull point off of a Triaros, tactical squad disembarked into a crater. The Spartan that had dropped off the retinue was immobilised by Earthshaker battery, tactical squad was shot to pieces by Thallax and run over by a Triaros, causing them to fall back for the remainder of the game. Triaros rammed the Justaerin squad which used death or glory with a multi-melta to explode it. Justaerin failed morale check from shooting and began to fall back past the immobolised Spartan.
TURN 3: SoH used the vulcan mega bolter to pepper the tech Thralls in the centre. Chieftains disembarked onto the objective and the land raider they were in rammed the automata marines. Arcus got some wounds onto the Cybernetica by having them explode one by one. Mech rolled void shield and gave it to the magos retinue that was slowly approaching the center. Most of the fire went into the Chieftain squad, the Dreadnaught was killed by Thallax shooting. Chieftains weathered a lot of combats but eventually were wiped.
TURN 4: A largely math-ed out turn. SoH rolled fire support again and used an Earthshaker on the remaining Mechanicum. Thanatar shooting completely cleaned out a tactical squad hiding in a building. Thralls across the board rallied back but unfortunately too far from the objective. Sons of Horus victory)
