August 25th
There are strange reports and unidentifiable energy readings emanating from somewhere in the Ursa sector of South Magister. Astra Militarum units sent to investigate have fallen silent for the last few days. Valkyries and Lighting Craft have disappeared from the sky. It falls to us, the Adeptus Astartes to investigate this disturbance. All attempts at stealthy intrusion have failed, so instead we will rain steel upon whatever foe hides in the mountain pass.
As they descend, the marines aboard the drop pods report hearing a strange, metallic buzzing in their ears...
Order of Battle, Team 1:
Support Servitor
Greek2Me - Bolter
Masterlegodude - Bolter
Ceist - Meltagun
Mr. Nobody - Lascannon
Bloody Jumper - Bolt Pistol + Chain Sword
Team 2:
Support Servitor
Ladios - Assault Cannon
Log - Heavy Bolter
Lady Sevacre - Missile Launcher + Bolter
Nicepoint - Sniper Rifle
Dr. Block - Bolt Pistol + Narthecium
The drop pods all land just behind a rocky platform. Despite landing during the day, a dark shadow is cast over the land, and swirling clouds ripple with thunder and lightning far above. Climbing up, they see a massive, monolithic structure of pitch black stone interlaced with glowing green circuits. A large icon upon what appears to be a door reveals who our enemy is. His Angels know no fear... but they acknowledge that the tactical prognosis got much worse. The landing team is separated onto two nearby platforms.
Team Two stacks up on a closed door, while Team One approaches an open doorway. Ceist destroys an automated turret in this xenos structure, which is thankfully much brighter on the inside than it is outside. But like metal phagocytes responding to an invader, a swarm of scarabs scuttles out of the monolith and swarms Ceist. Log and Nicepoint from Team Two run across the gorge to try and support him, Nicepoint dropping his sniper for his backup bolter and Log spraying heavy shells into the mass of insectoid robots, but Ceist is still overwhelmed by the swarm. His armor is stripped away atom by atom by the flaying energies arcing around the the scarab's pincers. Then it's his carapace. Then his skin, his muscles, his bones. Nothing is left of him, and the swarm moves on to attack the rest of Team One. (Minimap to show more clearly, blue dots are enemies, big blue dots are scarab swarms.) The other door in front of Team Two opens up to reveal even more scarabs. Ladios was prepared though, and cut down a swarm with his Assault Cannon, still fresh from the forges of Paragon. However, he got too zealous with the full-auto mode, and left some holes in Dr. Block, who was caught on the other end of that swarm.
Necron war machines and grotesque skeletal creatures wearing seeping flesh coverings loom out of the shadow of the monolith. Scarcely able to contend with even the Scarabs, we are forced to retreat. No remains of Ceist are recovered, not even his Meltagun. The one and only silver lining to this wretched mission is that the squad escaped with the rest of their lives, and captured two scarabs that failed to teleport away, so now our acolytes can study them to try and discover a weakness. Only Ladios and by some miracle Masterlegodude (who was heavily surrounded) are without wounds, and everyone's armor is heavily damaged. The entirety of Greek2Me's breastplate is ruined, with holes bored through his skin.
What's this? One of the Scarabs is still functional! Whatever these xenos have been using to teleport away from danger seems to have malfunctioned in this lone construct. It's still unlikely that such a meager captive will result in anything actionable, and it certainly wasn't worth the life of honorable Brother Ceist, but it's a small victory.
August 25th
I spoke too soon about this being a victory.
Barely even a day later, there are reports of mechanical horrors assaulting a guard outpost dangerously close to our planetary HQ, Jangwa. Could the Necrons have tracked the scarab? Was it deliberately left functional in our grasp so that they could go on the offensive and wipe us out? This is their first aggressive action on the planet, but it certainly won't be their last. Our lives are going to be much harder from here on out. With little choice, the nine remaining combat-capable marines sally forth on two Razorback tanks to assist the guardsmen, hoping that the thick armor plating of their transport will be enough to save them from the advanced technology of the xenos.
Order of Battle:
Lady Sevacre - Bolter
Masterlegodude - Bolter
Lord Tony - Flamer
Bloody Jumper - Bolt Pistol + Chainsword
Nicepoint - Sniper Rifle
Mr. Nobody - Lascannon
Ladios - Assault Cannon
Goth77 - Bolt Pistol + Narthecium
Filipe - Attack Bike w/ Twin Heavy Bolters + Chainsword
Starting strong, the Razorback rolls in and puts down three necron warriors immediately. Then the marines fan out from the vehicles, shooting at targets as they appear. Interestingly, the scarabs scurry about the base as individuals, not in the swarms we faced at the monolith. Lord Tony burns one out from under a short tower, that now serves as Mr. Nobody's perch. (OOC: It seems that the game is having the necrons fall unconscious instead of bleeding or dying outright for the most part. I assume it's this mod's attempt at replicating the effect of Reanimation Protocols.) A Lychguard with a stalwart shield approaches the tank under withering fire from the twin Heavy Bolters, as well as Lady Sevacre's kraken bolts. Steadily stepping toward the tank, with a vicious powered halberd, it was distracted from the sound of another motor approaching from behind. Filipe circled around and plowed into the back of the Lychguard, throwing it toward the tank. Before it could stand back up, Goth77 stood over it and emptied his bolt pistol into its head.
Around the corner, Masterlegodude runs into a grotesque Flayed One, and it was unphased by a burst of bolts. Ladios flanked behind it, and found that it couldn't withstand a volley from his Assault Cannon. Lord Tony followed up by setting it on fire, trying to ensure that it doesn't stand up again. Streaks of green energy fly overhead as the tanks trade salvos with the floating Necron Destroyers. Filipe charged one with his bike and sawed it down with a chainsword, but the second one remains floating out of his reach... But not after Nicepoint shot out its thrusters.
With that, the day was saved! But the force sent by the Necrons was much, much weaker than what met us at the monolith. Hopefully the two events were not related, but instead were the God Emperor's providence, giving us an opportunity to better study our enemy before we renew our offensive. In other news, four more marines from Baraaf have finished their training and will be reinforcing us in Jangwa. They are SBG, Jeetlor, Trogtor, and Satan From Wreck-It-Ralph.
August 30th
A new hostile contact, a new mission. Our first suit of Terminator Armor has rolled out of the foundry just in time. And the honor belongs to Masterlegodude to be the first to wear it into battle, accompanied by our fresh reinforcements. Those who wear this armor move slow and purposefully, and cannot kneel to make full use of cover, but the thick armor is also equipped with a forcefield to offset this. While Ladios was the only one strong enough to wield an Assault Cannon without the improved armor, Masterlegodude will get to test out his own cannon on the battlefield today.
Order of Battle:
2x Servitor
Masterlegodude - Assault Cannon + Power Fist
SBG - Bolter
Nicepoint - Sniper Rifle
Mr. Nobody - Lascannon
Satan From Wreck-It-Ralph - Heavy Bolter
Nal - Bolt Pistol + Chainsword
Bloody Jumper - Bolt Pistol + Chainsword
Jeetlor - Bolt Pistol + Chainsword
Trogdor - Eviscerator
Goth77 Bolt Pistol + Narthecium
As usual, the marines sprint from the drop pods with extreme violence, crushing traitors and mutants underfoot. Satan and SBG take out a floating weapons platform, and Nal crosses swords with a Slaaneshi Daemonette and comes out on top. Bloody Jumper throws a Phosphor grenade to light up the night, revealing targets for Nicepoint and Mr. Nobody to take out from a distance. The lightly armored cultists are falling like wheat to a scythe as the marines advance, but they're returning fire with a concerning number of plasma guns. When Nal and Masterlegodude reach the ship's entrance, some noise bomb goes off. Legodude's forcefield protects him, but Nal's insides are ruptured. Thankfully he still lives and Goth77 is nearby to rescue him.
The interior of the ship is a horror show, with mutilated captives chained to the walls and a musky stench in the air. Masterlegodude, Goth77, and Bloody Jumper penetrate deep inside while the rest of the marines maintain a perimeter outside. The two marines mop of the last of the cultists, and the Terminator finds a lone Noise Marine, and sawed him in half with bullets. The ship and its tainted cargo is ours to destroy now. Selling off what was suitable for reclamation earned us 6M requisition, and the battle itself was worth over 1000 points. A much needed boost to our score, given the lackluster performance this month. There's been many chaos craft that I detected but couldn't shoot down, they outclass my current fighters.
