Welcome from myself (DOC) and Trevdog.. This is our second part on playing 40K the fluffy way. So in order for you to understand what this is all about please first see part 1. Below is Trevdog's write up of the battle we played over 8 turns. It was just 287pts aside but boy was it a whole heap of fun and ended up with a cinematic climax. Anyway without further ado onto the story:
Lighting up
the road ahead, the two Space Marine bikes sped along Plaza Drive towards the
east. The dark silhouettes of buildings
flashed past on either side. They were
in an area close to the Governor’s Palace that needed restoration or rebuilding
altogether, but times were hard and poverty knocked on almost every door. The roar of the bikes engines ripped through
the morning silence. Still keeping his
eyes fixed on the road ahead and with occasional glances down to his mounted
auspex, Torrinium voxed across to Bransk alongside, “Scans are negative
Brother. What say you?”
“All is
quiet, it would appear” came the reply.
Unknowingly
they had passed through a dampening field and a group of rebels of The Church
lying in wait, shielded from their auspex scans.
Torrinium
blink clicked the screen inside his helmet to change his vox channel, then
announced, “Captain the route is clear, ready to proceed.”
“Acknowledged
Torrinium.” Raising his voice to be heard over the noise inside the Rhino APC
Captain Diritz spoke into the vox bead near his chin. “Split north and south
when you reach Plaza Square. We are moving in.”
Captain
Kearosen Diritz stood with his head tilted slightly to one side and touching
the ceiling inside the Rhino’s passenger compartment. Two more battle brothers from the 4th
Company of the Emperor’s Eagles Chapter stood with him. Another eight people sat along the sides of
the compartment. Five men sat to one
side. Four of them wore heavy green
tunics or robes. Their faces were masked with black leather straps. To look at them you would be mistaken to
thinking they were a misfit bunch having crawled out from under a hive
city. They were in fact veterans of the
PDF, the Governors own “Barator” Elite Guard.
Sat in the middle of them was a pale robed man under their protection. He was Grandis Brinn, Liaison to Governor
Shonai West. From the look on his face
he was not enjoying the ride. Beads of
sweat covered his brow. Opposite was the
Imperial Administrator, Prefect Patrinor with his two aids sat either side,
Sympath I and Dedidex. Sympath I was a
plain looking woman with tired eyes and long auburn hair. Her augmetics were concealed where in
contrast Dedidex was almost more machine than man. He was in no position to
care as his mind was controlled by Prefect Patrinor. The Prefect was a large man in every way
including his presence. This was not due to muscle bulk, rather to good food and
drink of the finest quality. As the
Rhino increased to cruising speed Prefect Patrinor looked up at Kearosen
Diritz, his steady gaze meeting the Captain’s, “What’s our status Captain?
“The streets
are quiet Prefect. My men have scanned
the route. This approach through the
industrial district is the best and most direct at this time of morning.
Enforcer
Irongate, leader of the rebels, stood with his back against the metal skin of
the machinery housing on the far side away from the road. He turned and spoke to Hooper Heat next to
him, the words sounding metallic through the grill of his death mask. “You know
what to do with that Meltagun boy”.
It was an
order rather than a question. “As soon
as you hear the explosions triggered move and target the APC that’ll come along
the street.”
Hooper
didn’t say anything, but just nodded uneasily when he looked into the cold hard
eyes behind the death mask.
Krackin had
his sights trained on the Rhino as it came towards them up the street. It first
passed under the gantry ahead and then the detonations sounded.
Huge chunks
of masonry rained down ahead of the Rhino and behind it effectively blocking it
in with the warehouse building and sewerage machinery either side. Krackin
squeezed the trigger and the missile streaked down from the gantry to impact
just in front of the APC. The explosion shook the vehicle and caused it to skid
to a halt, the metal tracks ripping up the surface of the road. Krakin’s expletive was drowned by the
subsequent weapons fire from the hidden rebels.
Hooper swung around from the sewerage plant and fired the meltagun from
the hip. Intense heat built up in his
weapon as the humming energy increased in pitch. In an instant the beam of energy lanced
toward the Rhino searing the front armour, but left Hooper slack jawed when he
realized the vehicle had withstood the shot.
Irongate
dashed past Hooper in a charge towards the stationery APC. The first salvo of missiles and heavy stubber
fire ceased.
Everyone
inside the Rhino was thrown forwards and plunged into darkness for a second and
then the dim secondary lighting came on with a flicker. Captain Diritz and the two Marines remained
standing. Whilst the others were picking
themselves up he turned to Grandis Brinn and the Elite Guard and shouted, “Out
now! Prefect, follow me!”
The release
bolts to the left and rear doors fired and the doors fell with a crash as they
swung on their lower hinges to the ground.
Diritz was out first, filling the space between the Rhino and warehouse,
bolt pistol leveled in front of him. The
other two marines, Berenito and Kol Lars exited quickly and immediately fired
into the barricades to the front and rear.
The Barator
Elite Guard came out from the rear of the Rhino and were met with returning
small arms fire from solid shot stub guns. Travis, the lead Barator, yelled and
fell as heavy stubber fire poured down from Stub Toes on the gantry to his left. He felt little of the injury to his shoulder
in his adrenalin fuelled state and started to pick himself up. Nikaulus and Flex emptied their shotguns at
the Undesirables behind the barricades, and Gavier sent a frag grenade from his
launcher into their midst. The
Undesirables’ nerve broke and they fled from the barricade down the street.
Captain
Diritz led Prefect Patrinor and his aids through a nearby door on his right into
the adjacent warehouse. Brothers
Berenito and Kol Lars quickly following inside as slug shot pattered off their
armour. Suddenly from out of the shadows
inside the warehouse came shots of stub round at them. They flew past Captain Diritz and one
embedded itself into the metal workings of Dedidex’s chest forcing him back a
step. Brother Berenito returned fire
from behind the others and caught a Rabellion in the neck. The explosive core bolt round removed the
man’s head in a fountain of blood. The
other Rabellion next to him had already moved and was charging towards Diritz.
The man snarled, chewing a cigar in the corner of his mouth as he pulled out a
long bladed dagger from over his shoulder.
The glint of steel flashed up at the Captain’s face, but he casually
flicked it away with his left forearm. Then grabbing Gravesend’s dagger arm he
brought his own humming power axe in a swift arc into the top of the man’s
skull splitting him clean in two.
Irongate ran
across the open ground to the front of the Rhino. He activated the Powerfist sheathing his
right arm and punched with all his might through the armour of the APC. The crackling power field around the ancient
fist surged and distorted the metal around it.
Deeper he thrust into the mechanics of the vehicle until he struck the
engine. The powerfield ignited the fuel
and Irongate felt himself thrown back through the air. Consciousness left him the instant he hit the
ground.
From the rear
of the Rhino the blast caught the Barator Elite squad in the back and knocked
them over like matchsticks in a gale.
Grandis Brinn took the brunt of the force as he stood on the ramp at the
rear hatch to the Rhino. His charred
body landed in front of the group. What
little was left of his robes were still on fire.
Back inside
the warehouse Sympath I shrieked and dodged to one side. She had been looking out of an open window
when a blur of fur on four powerful legs leapt in and pounced onto the back of
Dedidex. Huge jaws clamped around his
neck as he was sent sprawling onto the floor.
The large hound released its grip on the poor aid and rolled quickly to
right itself and turned. With wild amber
eyes and the sharp scraping sounds of its claws across the ferrocrete floor it
hurled itself at Sythpath I. Kol Lars
quickly intervened by thrusting his arm in front of the woman into the jaws of
the slavering beast. The force of the
impact from the leaping hound spun the Marine around and they landed in a heap
on the floor. While the hound kept its
jaws firmly locked on his arm Kol Lars pulled his chainsword from the
magnetized clip at his belt and activated the motor. With a harsh buzz the teeth of the chainsword
whirled and then with a stroke bit into the back of the beast spraying blood
across the floor and himself.
Krakin and
Fragin felt the heat from the blazing Rhino from below but continued to lay
down suppressing fire on the PDF further away.
Shadow and Brothox who were on the gantry with them moved away and down
the stairs into the warehouse. As they made their way down to the ground floor
they saw a group of figures exit the warehouse on the far side.
Captain
Diritz exited the warehouse with the two Marines bringing up the rear. They had left Dedidex lying in a pool of his
own blood. Berenito had indicated that
the aid had landed badly onto his face, the metal implants causing internal
bleeding. Prefect Patrinor had simply
waved the group on to continue knowing time was crucial. A group of men with two large hounds rounded
the corner of the building ahead. Kol
Lars dropped to one knee and aimed down his sight. His bolter fire joined with Berenito’s and
exchanged with stinging stub rounds from the group in front of them. Two of the men ahead went down and Captain
Diritz shot the first hound between the eyes as the two animals bounded forwards. The beast had already pounced at Diritz and
its dead weight from the forward momentum still caught him square in the chest. He turned with the force and flung the hound
to the side. The second hound was too
quick for the Captain to deal with in time.
It streaked past and crashed into Sympath I before she could cry out. It knocked her to the floor and savagely sank
it’s fangs into her neck. In that moment
Diritz quickly stepped across and slew the beast with his power axe, but it was
too late for Sympath I. Slug shot
pattered off his armour and he called for Prefect Patrinor to stand behind him
for protection. Firing between the rebels and the marines soon stopped as the
last of the rebel group went down. Kol
Lars and Berenito had advanced while they fired and were now standing over the
bodies.
Irongate
coughed and opened his eyes with a jolt. The sky was lighter now as morning
cast the first rays of sun across the city.
He blinked against the brighter light and winced as he pushed himself up
onto his elbows. Grunting, he got up and
moved slowly along the side of the wrecked Rhino in a crouch. Flames licked from out the hatches and the
large hole he had made earlier. Smoke
drifted across in front of him and a smile played across his lips, hidden by
the mask he wore. He looked up to see
Stub Toes and the Aces High twins at their elevated positions reloading their
weapons.
Then as the
smoke parted he saw the green figures of the PDF at the barricade ahead and not
his cohorts. They were quickly pumping cartridges into their shotguns as they
sheltered under the gantry ahead and one of them held a grenade launcher that
was aimed his way. The hollow pop that
signaled the discharge from the grenade launcher spurred Irongate into action. Turning
about he half ran, half dived back around the front of the burning APC. Shrapnel and dirt rained down on his back as
he felt the concussive force of the detonation close behind him. He lay there for a while, checking everything
was in place then lifting his face off of the tarmac he raged at his men,
“Bloody kill them damn you!”
As if
brought to life, Stub Toes raised his heavy stubber and let rip towards the PDF
group. Shots ricocheted against the gantry support struts forcing the men to
flatten themselves against it.
“Frag this!”
yelled Krakin as he loosed a missile towards the same group targeted by Stub
Toes. The blast erupted around the men and one was hurled over the barricade
like a rag doll. The remaining three
staggered out from cover and made a dash for safety to the warehouse door
across the road.
Flex saw his
friend Travis lifted into the air and over the barricade. His hearing was shot, his mind numb from the
loss of a friend he knew like family.
Nikaulus and Gavier got up and started to run. He could see Nik mouthing something to him
and waving his arm for Flex to follow.
He started to run too but before he could take more than two steps his
legs were cut from under him. He finally
saw his friends make it to safety through the warehouse door.
Both bikers
from the 4th Company arrived along the road. Torrinium had doubled back to Plaza Square
when he had heard the Captain on the open channel shouting out his orders to
evacuate the Rhino. Bransk had initially
headed south, so cut west in a parallel line to Plaza Drive to bring himself
around the far end of and then back along the same route the Rhino had
travelled. Bransk powered along the road
and the wrecked Rhino soon came into view.
He saw figures on the gantry ahead and swerved instinctively to avoid
any shots. The missile they fired
barreled down towards his last position and detonated out of harm’s way. But he was then caught out as a second missile
appearing from nowhere hit the ground in front of him which pitched his bike,
front wheel first, into the air. Bransk
let go of the bike and slid along the road feet first on his back in a shower
of sparks from his armour.
Torrinium,
on the other hand, had turned back and approached more cautiously along the
road from the opposite end. Smoke
obscured the Rhino and the road ahead.
In the
warehouse, Shadow and Brothox continued to make their way down the stairs. It was dim inside and as they got closer to
the ground floor they could make out the forms of three human figures and a
hound lying in pools of blood and gore.
Brothox spat, “That’s Mr Gravesend that is”, nodding his head in the
general direction of the bodies.
“I know”
replied Shadow quietly. He quickly held
his arm in front of Brothox to stay him.
Through the clamour of weapons fire outside footfalls and heavy
breathing grew louder and two men in green robes ran into the warehouse just below
them. They skidded to a halt in front of
the bodies and momentarily looked down at the carnage. In unison Shadow and Brothox raised their
rifles and fired. The robed men danced
awkwardly as the shells hit them, and finally fell to the ground like puppets
cut from their strings.
“Brothers,
let’s move on” Captain Diritz urged his men over the vox. “ Plaza Square is on the other side of those
buildings ahead”. Kol Lars &
Berenito were already familiar with the layout of the city streets having
studied their roles in this mission meticulously.
“Yes sir!”
was their reply.
Berenito
took the lead and Kol Lars stayed to cover the rear of the group. Prefect Patrinor now kept close to Captain
Diritz having seen his aids fall quickly to the rebels. Berenito moved along the warehouse wall to
the corner and peered around cautiously.
“Ambush!” he
cried out and swung round the corner of the building and out of view. Immediately Kol Lars and Diritz sprung
forward readying their weapons. As they
ran closer to the corner they could just see the back of Berenito ahead. He was being assailed by a group of
Rabellions who were pitched to a frenzy. Slug shots and blades bounced off his armour
as his chainsword drew arcs of crimson in the air. In a matter of moments his assailants had all
fallen around him bar one. This last one
fell to his knees and held a grenade in his outstretched hands in front of
him. It looked almost like he was
offering it to Berenito as his hands shook.
Berenito’s chainsword made its last arc to decapitate the kneeling Rabellion
as the grenade went off. The detonation
made Diritz and Kol Lars stagger back and bowled Patrinor over into the dirt. Diritz turned to Patrinor and helped him up.
“Are you
hurt?” he asked with genuine concern.
“No
Captain”. Though visibly shaken he kept his voice level. “I desire to stay alive for a few more years. I take it you are up to the task of allowing
me to see this through?” He brushed his hands down his clothes in a vain
attempt to calm himself.
Diritz was
taken aback somewhat and fought to stop his choler rise. “That is without
question Prefect”.
Turning he
glanced down at Berenito lying face up where he had fallen having taken the
full blast to save his brothers. The armour plate on his chest was cracked and
the golden Imperial Aquila was split in two with a line of red blood welling up
to the surface.
“Leave him,
his life sign is too weak to continue with us” Diritz said to Kol Lars. So the three of them left and headed to the
Basilica building across the road from them.
Bransk
leaped back up onto his feet, from the forward momentum of his slide along the
road, and started to run. Ahead were two
Rabellions behind a barricade below the gantry. Bransk drew his bolt pistol and chainsword as
he ran towards them. They exchanged
fire. The Rabellion’s shots went wide as he bore down on them. The thunder of his charging footsteps shaking
the ground and putting fear into their hearts. His bolt pistol barked twice and the two men
crumpled in front of him. He vaulted the
barricade and continued his charge along the road.
Torrinium’s attention
was caught by the sound of the explosion.
He could see the figures of his Captain and another marine with the
Prefect in the distance entering a building.
He steered his bike toward them and started to accelerate. Then as the smoke cleared around the warehouse
and gantries the rebels open fired upon him.
First, a frag missile from Krakin, streaked in and hit his bike, the
blast toppling both over. Torrinium found
he was now pinned to the floor by the weight of the bike on his right leg. Knowing he was in a vulnerable position he
quickly set to work to prize himself free. With his left leg he started to push
the bike. Then a figure came into view
above him, breathing heavily from running. The man pointed his gun at Torrinium
and the rising whine of the energy build up signaled his doom. The discharge of the Meltagun blew a clean
hole through the seat of the bike and the prone marine behind.
Hooper heard
Irongate call him and turned to see his leader running with Grimm, another
Rabellion, towards the Basilica building.
Quickly checking the charge of his Meltagun he started off towards
Irongate.
“We will cut
them off at the other side of this Basilica”, shouted Irongate to his men. They
ran around to the front of the building and into Plaza Square. At the same time three figures emerged from the
front doors. Captain Diritz was leading
them. Time seemed to slow down. Bullets whistled between the two groups and
missed their targets in what appeared to be in slow streaks with vapour
trailing behind. The distance between
them shortened with each heart beat and breath.
The two marines protecting the Administrator were giants, but that
mattered little to Irongate. His
loathing of the Imperial cult was like a stimulant in his veins that gave
strength to his body and inspired his men.
They followed him because he led by example and they feared him, but
that was down to what was behind the mask and not the mask itself.
The distinct
sound of a bolter round finding its target in the man next to him shattered the
fuzzy bubble of the moment and raw noise of the melee erupted around him. Grimm’s feet left the ground as the explosive
core of the bolter shell ripped through his chest, leaving a huge exit hole in
his back. Hooper saw Grimm crumple to the ground. In the next breath Hooper saw the sun
eclipsed by a giant of a man looming over him and the buzz of a chainsword
swinging down towards him.
Irongate
flew at Captain Diritz, his raised powerfist swinging overhead to pound the
marine into the ground. Diritz brought
his power axe up to block but he couldn’t deflect the full force of the
blow. The powerfist grazed down the arm
of the Captain forcing a grunt from his throat as pain flared up from his
shoulder to his fingertips. Irongate’s
charge threw his own balance off and he stumbled into the Captain as his
powerfist hit the ground. In the next
instant his opponent’s knee came up and connected with the Enforcer’s chest
breaking his sternum. Irongate felt a
jolt of searing pain in his chest as he was pitched backwards onto the ground. Each breath was painful and like a purifying
fire at the same time. Diritz felt his
whole left arm go numb as it hung at his side. He stepped towards the man in
the mask and lifted his axe up ready to finish him. With startling speed, the
masked man sprung up and both started to circle each other. Diritz cut a low sweep with his axe which
Irongate parried at the last moment with his powerfist. The energy fields of the two weapons repulsing
each other in thunderous crackles and blinding white hot light. Both men were
finding it hard to penetrate the defense of the other. Diritz was of consummate martial skill and
easily out maneuvered Irongate. But, for
his lack of skill Irongate was fuelled with hate. This seemed to increase his speed and made
the powerfist move through the air with frightening speed. Diritz side stepped another swing from
Irongate and immediately reposted with a kick.
Irongate managed to grab his opponent’s foot as it struck him and as he
fell he brought his powerfist across to strike the exposed leg. Diritz felt the powerfield shatter the bones
in his leg but he remained standing.
This gave him the opening to strike with his axe. The axe swept down and into the shoulder of
the masked man. The power of the stroke
followed Irongate’s fall and then pinned him to the ground as it bit into the
road. Diritz toppled with him and went
sprawling to the floor. As he lay there
he felt the stimulants administered by his armour stabilize his organs and
central nervous system. He had lost the
feeling to both his arm and leg. He was
aware of his own voice commanding Kol Lars to take Patrinor to the Palace which
was in sight across the square. A while
later he saw the masked man lying near him picked up and carried off by the
man’s own troops.
They didn’t
pay him any attention. The must have
known he was still dangerous even in his battered condition.
“Sir?” The
familiar voice of Brother Bransk was close to his ear. He had heard the marine approach across the
square while in his recuperative state.
“I hear you
Bransk. What took you?” he smiled.
“The Rebels
have gone. I was going to pursue, but
knew it best to check on my Captain and
brothers first. Kol Lars has confirmed they
are now safe inside the Palace.
“Good. Now contact
Apothacary Jantolus and tell him he has work to do”.
Well that's all folks we are currently discussing where the story goes next and will no doubt publish that. Please leave comments and thoughts on the story and this way of playing 40K?
Cheers
DOC
As I haven’t used any of the Forge World models to represent the style of the legion’s armour at the time of the Horus Heresy, I have made do with mixing some parts from the chaos marine set and adding purity seals and other bits of decoration that in my mind helps to lift the model from it looking too bland. So I used a non GW paint called Burgundy (Inscribe Acrylics) as the base coat over black undercoat. I found on my test models that the white undercoat really made it look too pink. The black helped with shading and also toned down the brightness. I then drybrushed a 50/50 mix of Burgundy and Rose over the whole model. I have picked out some details with an almost pure Rose colour. The gold armour edging and Aquilla were painted using a mix of gold and caramel. I wanted a warmer yellow tint to the gold. I gave it a brown ink wash and then a highlight of gold.
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