Squad Taeron, originally a heavy weapons squad, had
undoubtedly been rewarded for their diligent worship. For their service, each
man had become a living fusion of weapon, armor, and flesh. The ground near
them shook beneath their slow, trodden pace, but their massive forms allowed
them to bear even the heaviest of weapons as easily as an astartes carried a
bolter. Val Kothar watched as the mountainous warriors leveled their lascannons
at the Ultramarine land raider speeding towards the right side of the
battlefield, stopping it in its tracks.
The Dark Apostle’s upper lip curled in contempt however, as
the Ultramarines vanguard hit his left flank. Fully armored warriors in
tactical dreadnought armor, each one almost the size of two astartes, came
barreling out of the enemy Land Raider and towards Squad Gahl Dro. Gahl Dro’s
warriors laid down a desperate wave of bolter fire, but the cataphracti merely
shrugged off the rounds as they charged into the Word Bearers ranks. Val Kothar
saw Gahl Dro leap at the Ultramarine sergeant in a futile attempt to blunt
their advance, but his right lightning claw stuck in the sergeant’s right
shoulder plate. In return, the Ultramarine sergeant impaled Gahl Dro on his
power sword.
The damned Ultramarines continued to persist, despite the
significant losses the Word Bearers had inflicted upon them. Val Kothar
realized now that Kor Phaeron had underestimated the tenacity of the sons of
Guilliman. The Ultramarines were a hateful foe. They had destroyed Monarchia
merely to satisfy the false Emperor’s whims. They were lapdogs to be reviled
for furthering the deceitful agendas of humanity’s cruel master. Yet, they were
a stubborn foe all the same, and the Dark Apostle could not help but feel an iota
of respect for their determination. The primordial annihilator would certainly reward
the Word Bearers once they delivered the souls of the thirteenth legion.
Val Kothar sprinted towards Squad Gahl Dro’s position,
drawing Voidborn from its sheath in one fluid motion. He uttered a prayer to
the Blood God and smiled as he felt the beast within Voidborn wake from its
slumber. For a moment its hunger threatened to overcome him, but the blade’s
resistance melted away as it bit into the first Ultramarine’s neck. He could
sense his retinue was far behind him, but he cared little as he reveled in the
slaughter.
A second Ultramarine reared back to punch its colossal
gauntlet into the Dark Apostle’s chest, but he was far too slow. Val Kothar
ducked under the swing and sliced the warrior’s right leg off right above the
kneecap. He spun the blade as he moved, impaling the falling cataphracti
through the eye with a vicious stab.
By then the third and fourth members of the squad were on
him. Val Kothar sidestepped a powerful strike from the closer of the pair, spun
behind him, and raked his blade diagonally across the warrior’s back. The final
warrior feinted with his power fist and instead struck with his left palm,
catching the Word Bearer off guard. He struck the Dark Apostle viciously with
his power fist, but Val Kothar turned at the last second, catching the blow on
his right shoulder. Using the force of the attack to spin him around, Val
Kothar struck upwards, bisecting the warrior’s head from the left side of his
chin to his right ear. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the cataphracti
sergeant kill the sergeant of his retinue. In his bloodlust, Val Kothar could
not even remember the warrior’s name. He casually drove his blade into the
Ultramarine’s back, returning the favor for Gahl Dro’s death.
Across the field, Squad Taeron finished the enemy land
raider, causing it to erupt in flames. Val Kothar focused his vision on the
wreck, spotting Captain * and a squad of his brethren shifting out from behind
it and into superior cover. The Dark Apostle took off at a run, not caring that
he had outpaced most of his retinue. He had spotted his target and nothing
would dissuade him from killing the Ultramarine.
---
This battle involved five objectives; two on the Ultramarines side and three for the Word Bearers. I started off with my land raider and obliterators stunning the land raider in the center of the field. The Ultramarines captain and his veteran tactical squad disembarked to hold the objective behind the big piece of terrain on the left.
The raider on the left side of the picture then hit my lines. The terminator squad aboard it disembarked and killed all but one member of the objective-holding CSM squad. I moved my raider up and counter-charged with my Chaos lord and possessed. The lord killed all of the smurfs except for the sergeant, who was in a challenge with my possessed champion. The lord killed the sergeant in the next turn.
My havoc squad in the right piece of terrain pinged shots off the tactical squad the entire game but failed to do anything. The 3+ armor, 4+ cover, and 5+ FnP (from the attached apothecary) saves really made them a tough nut to crack. Luckily, I didn't need to, as I had three objectives in my backfield.
I blew up the shaken raider with my obliterators, then assaulted the remaining raider with my Chaos lord and possessed. They didn't even scratch the thing, due to a misunderstanding regarding meltabombs and ceramite plating, but that was alright. I used that assault to slingshot me forward towards the Ultramarines captain and his squad the following turn. That raider later died when my raider shot it to pieces.
I charged the captain's squad, not realizing that by moving my models over the tiny corner piece of the terrain's board I was charging through cover. Those little pebbles on that corner must have been crazy slippery. Lost a few models to overwatch and entered a challenge with the captain. We both take wounds, but survive. His squad kills off my possessed.
On his turn I roll a 1 for my daemon weapon, making me WS1. My chaos lord dies, giving up the Slay the Warlord VP, but I still made out 1 ahead due to first blood and the three objectives I still held. Another victory for the Aelohym!
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