The Sabre cuts deep

Hard rounds spanged from Sergeant Stone’s storm shield, chipping another fleck of paint from its surface. He didn’t flinch, he’d been on enough battlefields that close calls with enemy fire were more familiar to him than being at rest. The woods to the west burned, set alight by the fury of his warrior brothers of Scimitar Company to cover the Vanguard’s withdrawal from the area, the sun-hot plasma blasts setting fire to the tinder-dry woodland quicker than a beat from his twin hearts. To the east he could see little. Smoke still roiled where the lance fire from the Hissatsu had struck the ground, some sixth sense or perhaps a shouted warning from the abhorrent greenskin psykers giving the enemy a moments notice to throw themselves clear of the blast area. Behind him he could hear the snap crack of stalker bolter fire as Hydra squad moved up in support of them from the main landing site to the south. He took all this in without once breaking from his battle with the Ork before him, his blade never wavering as he assessed the battlefield, judging where his strength would be required next. He lunged forward, cracking the shield boss across his opponents eyes, forcing him back and creating an opening in its defence just long enough to send a slashed attack ripping into its neck, vital fluids spilling out over its torso as it sank to its knees.

Orks died hard, but Sagit Stone was a Veteran of dozens of campaigns against the myriad foes the galaxy sent against the defenders of mankind. He had seen it all before, and he knew just where to strike to put them down fast. He heard a grunt to his left, and a quick glance showed his battle-brother Silas Moor crashing into the barricade walls of the Ork stronghold behind him, blood seeping from a crack in his armour plate. Torsten Fenn, the third member of their Sentinel Squad had already avenged the blow before Stone could move. That was the last of them, the way was clear and they could push on into the main compound and clear out the greenskin forces in this battlezone.

Before he could move however, he heard a throaty roar of an engine, and saw a shape looming through the smoke before him.

“Brace” he yelled to his brother, and both warriors of the Obsidian Sentinels rammed the pointed base of their storm shields into the ground before them, angling them to deflect incoming fire while sheltering behind the powerfield that extended from it. Out of the smoke lurched a monster of a vehicle, smoke billowing from every rent in its armoured hide. Damaged though it was, the spiked roller attached to its front was still very much a threat however, and Sergeant Stone whispered a quick prayer to the Emperor to watch over them in this moment of need.

A split second before the impact, everything seemed to slow, Stone’s transhuman physiology further stimulated by his armour’s systems and made everything else seem to be moving in slow motion. He could see how he and his squad brother would destroy this behemoth, assuming their shields held.

The moment of clarity passed, the sounds of the battle came flooding back and the battlewagon crashed into them, the ram on its front driven by its massive weight into the angled faces of their shields. Had it been in full working order, Stone had no doubt it would have crushed them into the ground, but it was clearly heavily damaged, plasma fire having torn into whatever systems the Orks had cobbled together to make it run. The impact was still bone-shudderingly hard, and the Bladeguards were pushed back several metres, their boots and shields digging furrows in the earth before the vehicle ground to a halt. Heaving upwards with all their might, the two astartes snapped the support structure for the ram, pushing it upwards so they could reach the vehicle itself. Leaping onto the engine housing, Stone unclipped a Krak grenade from his belt and dropped it through one of the holes blasted by plasma fire, before running down the length of the superstructure and diving to the ground. A dull crump could be heard behind him as the engine bay detonated, shrapnel spinning harmlessly through the air. He got to his feet and dusted himself down, drawing his blade once more and glancing at Brother Fenn.

“After you” he said to his brother, a grin breaking out on his face beneath his obsidian helm as he realised this battle was won, the Orks breaking or being cut down all around them. It had been a squeeze there for a few moments as the Orks brought their weight of numbers to bear, but as ever, Captain Darke had marshalled his forces well, and timed their counter-strike to perfection, cutting the heart from the enemy and taking their stronghold from them.

This battle was won, but the war for this world was not over. Sergeant Stone would return to war’s red edge once more.

A brother lost, a brother found

Mission: Retrieval

Forces: 50PL Swords of Dawn vs Night Lords 

Mission Parameters: 4 objectives within the Night Lords deployment zone, 1 of which is the missing Chief Librarian. Searching an objective is an action that takes all your turn. On a roll of 6+ the search is successful. Add 1 to the roll for each previous unsuccessful search.

Victory Conditions: Victory points. 10 points are awarded for each search performed, and another 10 for successfully finding the Librarian. 20 points are awarded for controlling the Librarian at the start of each players Command Phase.

The Swords of Dawn made planetfall in search of Garrandol Pallas, their missing Chief Librarian who had disappeared during the initial clashes between the Night Lords and the Swords of Dawn on Khymara. Squad Medusa had been one of the Intercessors Squads assigned to search this region and they had recorded positive returns on their auspex scanners indicating that a lone figure was in the vicinity, though the signal was sporadic, as if it were being interfered with. Soon, it became clear why that was the case, as a much larger return set off the detectors, the internal cogitators of the device reading the force as showing Astartes elements, Night Lords Astartes. 

Sergeant Verano wasted no time in reporting back the readings to his Captain at the landing site, and received order to hold their position until a retrieval force could reach them.

Medusa Squad did not have long to wait, though any retrieval was going to be tight as the Night Lords forces closed in, a vanguard rabble of chaos worshiping cultists driven before them combing the ruined buildings, whilst the Night Lords themselves showed how capable they were at stealth operations as Verano was unable to fully estimate their numbers or position, the Auspex now virtually useless as the heretics scramblers came ever closer. 

With a throaty roar of revving engines, Squad Cyclops burst past Medusa's position, twin bolt rifles mounted on their outrider bikes blazing away at the cultists infesting the streets and cutting down the pathetic whelps in short order. Verano could hear a second squad of outriders further to the east, the distinctive crack of bolt rounds echoing through the streets. Below him, part of the ruined building in which his squad were taking shelter suddenly blew out, as the distinctive shape of an Impulsor grav tank crashed into the street. The vox was alive with chatter now, the outriders of Squad Cyclops requesting assistance as they were ambushed by the leader of the enemy warband. Verano grinned a wry smile, Amos Karsten was a capable warrior and a good friend, but he had always been a hothead and was always the first into any trouble. He had no doubt his fellow sergeant would find a way out in one piece however, he always did.

Verano saw movement in the corner of his eye, away in the distance on top of a ruined building. 

"Squad Medusa, covering fire" he calmly purred into the vox link in his helmet as he brought his own bolt rifle to bear on a target. "North West quadrant, roof top level."

Squeezing the trigger, he sent several bolt rounds across the battlefield, cracking into the armour of his target, a brutish looking warrior in midnight blue armour and hefting an ancient, baroque looking autocannon onto his shoulder. The shots didn't penetrate, but sent the autocannon rounds wide, crashing into the ferrocrete roadway.

Several figures vaulted from the rear of the Impulsor as it advanced up the street, one breaking off into the building where Squad Cyclops had disappeared while the rest made for the building where Verano's target had been. Verano recognised the lone figure instantly, the blood-ruby red sword in his hand. Captain Janus Darke. Tucking his signature Relic Shield tight against his left side, Darke entered the building. Mere seconds later, Verano watched on as five heretic Astartes burst from the ground floor heading away from the building, and making for their Rhino transport that was located a little way to the north east. Verano smiled again, as they would find little respite there, from his vantage point he could see the tell-tale blue glow of plasma weaponry discharging and knew that Squad Jackal were holding down that sector of the battle-grid. Another volley of fire from his squad saw the Astartes giving covering fire from the building to the north cut down, the chattering guns of the Impulsor, Scirocco also joining the fight and cutting down the last man. Turning his attention back to the main fight, he could see Captain Darke had exited the ruined building in pursuit of the smaller squad and was busy cutting them down as they fled the field. In the street in front of him, he could see the ominous black helmets of the Obsidian Sentinels, flanking the Chaplain, Xander Grell as he bellowed a challenge to a figure not yet visible to Verano. The Sentinels were going about their work with grim efficiency, hacking into a squad of heretic Astartes when a flash of purple lightning struck the building. Grell was thrown back and Verano could hear his howl of rage as his quarry escaped the battlefield through some kind of foul warp magicks.

Then the vox link crackled in his helm.

"This is Sergeant Rodius of Jackal Squad. We have secured the Chief Librarian, let's get him out of here."

Under Construction

Hey there,

This blog is currently very much 'under construction'.

Latest additions:

Added Campaign introduction to The Persecution of Khymara

Khazant homeworld info

Sabre Company characters & background info

Rapier Company characters & background info