Chapter Two of the Query Into Mr. Quasar

The Dale-Con Battle Reports

It is recommended that the reader also references my opponent's report found here:

http://apostlesofcontagion.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-battle-of-bastion-451-on-planet-of.html

It contains much more detail of the battle, and is a nice companion to this one, which is decidedly one-sided and fragmentary.

++Excerpts taken from the log of Epistolary Lidicker follow.

++Our mission was simple enough.  The images included in this report have been uploaded from vid-serv skulls hovering above the conflict zone.  We arrived before dawn (ref. 4579.4b) at Bastion 451, which had been previously abandoned by Imperial Guard forces two weeks earlier in an effort to support a front against an Ork Waaagh conducted on another hemisphere of the planet.  It has been noted to the proper authorities that this bastion was abandoned under direct orders from the Senior Officers in the Waaagh zone.

Company Commander Creed and his cohort of Sergeant Kell and several bodyguards carrying an autocannon tripod arrived at the bastion and found that the comms array was still in perfect working order.  This would allow the command to communicate effectively with all guardsmen on the field (ed- apoc formation allowed Creed to give commands to any unit on the table.  Combined with Kell and Vox Casters, this made orders succeed on a re-rollable Ld10, as well the Warlord trait for Kell gave units within 12" of him Relentless). 

Chimeras flanked to the left and right.  To the left were multiple squads of guardsmen carrying special weapons.   To the right, Marneus Guardgar's Platoon Command Squad would follow a team of Veterans and Miguel Quasar's Platoon Command Squad.  All were mounted in transports, and advanced quickly on the Right flank.  To the center, a Lascannon Heavy Weapons Team took stance at the base of the bastion to await the inevitable thrust of the enemy tanks toward the bastion.  These were the Iron Warriors, after all.

I, and several Marines Errant, accompanied a Leman Russ Battle Tank to the center support position, directly behind the bastion (shown in the above photo.)  Advancing on the Left Flank, yet not yet arriving and held in reserve were Thad Allen's Reactionary Marine Team, also accompanying a Leman Russ Battle Tank, this one the reliably unreliable Punisher variant, piloted by Tank Ace Pask.

It was to the loyalist's surpise that there were tunnels that had been dug, apparently hastily, in a cobweb of patterns underneath this battlefield!  Surely the enemy were sending in teams covertly but had pulled back.  Two squads of guardsmen entered of the discovered tunnels beneath the bastion in order to secure them.  Upon exiting, found themselves directly in front of the enemy, and quickly took the front lines of the traitorous rebels by unawares.

Guardsmen break from the tunnels at dawn, taking the advancing rebels by surprise.

First Rank, Second Rank, Fire!  Scores of mutant zombies perish to the fusillade of lasgun fire.

Chimeras peel around the left flank, heading for the far objective waypoint.

++Immediately after the Chimeras crossed the Left Flank, Veteran Sergeant Thad Allen arrived from Reserves.  Behind him, a rumbling sound tolled the arrival of the Punisher Battle Tank.  Veteran Allen stepped up to a ruined bunker, and spotted a Chaos Champion- a plague-weeping monstrosity named Necrosius-  leading a large hoard of abominations to mankind across the battlefield.  While the Guardsmen cut the zombies down with fusillades of lasgun fire, Allen issued his challenge in a bellowing howl: "Fiend, you shall not breach these lines, with the Emperor's righteousness at my side I shall smite thee down!"  With that, he began to advance across the field.

Veteran Sergeant Thad Allen issues a challenge.

In the center of the field, three Chaos Vindicator Siege tanks advanced toward a firing position, a threat to the Bastion.  On the Right Flank, Hounds of Xaphan advanced through the ruins straight toward Marneus Guardgar.  On the far right, Veterans had disembarked from their Chimera, and started destroying advancing Chaos Rhino transports.  On the left, one can see Veteran Sergeant Thad Allen charging forth from the bunker.  Almost all the guardsmen and the zombies from the initial engagement (turn one) were lost.  The tunnel warfare made for a truly bloody engagement in midfield.

An overhead shot of the next few moments (turn two). 

Imperial Guard Veterans advanced into oncoming Chaos Rhinos on the Right Flank.  Behind them, Miguel Quasar's Platoon Command Squad offered fire support with an autocannon team.  Melta Guns flared as two Chaos Rhinos were destroyed, and about 16 Chaos Marines emerge, some Chosen among them, led by a mighty Warpsmith.

To the left of those veterans and Miguel Quasar hid the Platoon Commander Marneus Guardgar, his autocannon team, his trusty vox-caster expert, and a Ministorium Priest named Tallyard, wielding an enormous eviscerator.  If they had not been torn to pieces by the Hounds of Xaphan, they would be charged with heresy for their cowardice.

Meanwhile, on the Left Flank...

Treachery is afoot.  Eldar support forces, reacting to the battle at the plateau, had made their way to this flank.  Sneaking through Chaos defenders, they swarmed in a sneak attack and assaulted the Left Flank Waypoint.  A mighty firefight broke out, and guardsmen did their best possible to defend against oncoming waves of Dire Avengers, Howling Banshees, and Harlequins.

As the Eldar Ambush turns into a firefight, the Punisher enters into "weapons free" mode and begins leveling combatant and plant-life alike.

Thad Allen's Reactionary Team ignores the Eldar to their left, and advances to engage Necrosius.

The Imperial Guard have their own surprises as well.  Two Bane Wolf tanks and a Hellhound arrive on the same flank as the Eldar.  They tank-shock their way to the objective and wipe out an entire autocannon Havoc squad on the hill.  They wouldn't last long in the enemy back-field, but they did a good job of shaking things up back there.  Here we can see their Chem-Cannons in full effect.

The Eldar surround the Left Flank Waypoint Objective.  All is lost on this side.

In the center of the field,

the fury of the Chaos Vindicators was unleashed upon the Bastion.

Yet the Bastion held.  Fared much better than the Leman Russ Battle Tank nearby, destroyed by the scattering shell fragements.

Meanwhile on the Right Flank, the veterans had engaged and put a good dent in  all of the Chosen Chaos Space Marines except for one:  The Warpsmith.  Miguel Quasar advances, and a brave guardsman sprays a gout of flame across the Warpsmith in vain.  In the background, we can see a Chaos Exterminator Battle Tank.

The hounds of Xaphan run past and into the building.  Miguel Quasar probably never heard the screams coming from inside.

After a  grueling combat, the Necrosius finally defeats Thad Allen.  The rest of his Marines would still follow suit.  However, their sacrifice kept the Champion of Chaos at bay, preventing him from diving into Imperial Guard back lines.

The Warpsmith opens up with the Firebrand of Skalathrax.  Miguel's team is burnt to ashes, and the Platoon Commander is last seen writhing upon the ground, flames licking at his sides. 

These final two events spell the end for the left and right flanks for the Imperial Guard.  While the center bastion was held, both flanks folded upon the Eldar flank and the Warpsmith's impenetrable armor.  Reinforcements of Marines Errant arrived, but not soon enough to win the day. 

The battle is declared a loss for the Imperium.  However, the secondary mission- to keep the Bastion and the escape route for the Marines Errant viable- was a success.  The details of the Marines Errant mission, which happened simultaneously to this one, follows in the next post.