Scourge of Sobekk Campaign - Week 4

The Warlord Ranald came to Somarle, head high in respect of the venerable Ancestor Lord. Somarle was more than a mighty warrior, he was the embodiment of the Clan's history. Ranald remembered tales of Somarle's heroic deeds stretching back over a thousand years. The Warlord and Ancestor Lord were of a shared bloodline, Somarle was his third-great-grandfather's brother, but even such bonds paled against the respect commanded by a Living Ancestor.

The venerable ancestor turned from his scrutiny of the battleground where his Warriors fought against the renegades. Ranald looked him straight in the eyes, to look away would be to admit shame in the battle's outcome, but there was no fooling the experienced gaze of his elder.

"Be not pained young one. Your Warriors fought bravely against formidable opponents and many not sit amongst their Ancestors. While you were not able to obliterate the enemy you secured our position and gave the Engineers time to make a start on our defences."

The Warlord gave a slight nod, accepting the Ancestor's wisdom without comment. "My scouts have reported the Humans have abandoned a prometium processing facility to the east of our position. I have ordered a detachment to secure the facility and it's resources. While we encountered enemy forces in the area we were able to drive them off and took prisoners for interrogation."

Somarle's eyes narrowed slightly, such events were easily within the Warlord's duties and not something to be brought to a Living Ancestor. "There is more to this, speak you mind child."

"My Lord, the prisoners, they are something I cannot deal with. I require your assistance."

"You said 'something'. What manner of creatures have you brought amongst us?. Give me your battle report."

--

The Demiurg were entrenching themselves amongst the Human defences surrounding the fuel refinery, preparing to advance into the facility itself, when scouts reported contact with enemy forces.

Thousand Sons.

The name echoed in the commander's mind. The Thousand Sons were once the most shining beacon of humanity's potential, until they were betrayed and cast out amongst the traitors who followed the Warmaster Horus into damnation. He let out a groan, he'd been hoping to have some time before engaging such a formidable enemy.

"Get those guns ready! Contact in five!" The commander began barking orders to those under his command as he headed to join his kinsmen, his Hearthguard. As the warriors of the Thousand Sons advanced the brave Demiurg Warriors dug in behind defensive structures and prepared themselves.

The hulking form of a defiler daemon engine was the first to come into sight, looming out of the smog, followed shortly by the outline of a dreadnought. The defiler caught sight of the Demiurg and surged forwards, bursting down the towards the left flank with a screech of unnatural exhilaration. As the enemy opened fire a towering daemon prince dropped from the sky upon leathery wings and let fly bolts of psychic energy.

The moment the enemy warriors came into range they were met by barrage after barrage of artillery fire. No matter how may of their number fell their steady advance continued. As the battle continued the defiler advanced and fired on the artillery guns, wreaking terrible damage and killing many brave warriors. The enemy made one fatal mistake. By focusing on the guns they had allowed the Demiurg to advance unharmed and were caught in a carefully arranged kill-zone. The Daemon Prince flew forwards in attempt to engage the threat posed by the warriors but barely made it to their lines before succumbing to the powerful lightning-blasts of the Demiurg weapons. The Demiurg warriors advanced on their enemies, methodically taking down each enemy unit before moving onto the next.

On the right flank one unit of Warriors charged from the safety of cover to engage the Thousand Sons at close quarters. Despite being outclassed by their opponents they managed to hold on long enough for their brothers to neutralise the rest of the enemy force and come to their aid.

With the enemy in tatters, those that could withdrew and those that remained were either killed or captured. Despite sustaining heavy losses, especially from amongst the artillery crews, the Demiurg secured the promethium facility and expanded the area controlled by the Warriors of Fleet Fellmire.

--

"My Lord, I believe that one of our warriors shows the potential to become a Living Ancestor like yourself. The prisoners that we were able to capture were not entirely human. Somehow, the daemon that had been bound to the defiler was held in this realm when it's prison was destroyed, and the other prisoners include the daemon prince, several mutated Chaos spawn, and Sorcerers of the Thousand Sons."

Somarle's interest was ignited at this revelation. "You are undoubtedly correct in your supposition, to an extent."

Ranald seemed puzzled, expecting the Living Ancestor to say more, but instead he began descending from his position to where the strange prisoners were being kept.

Scourge of Sobekk Campaign - Week 3

After the defeat against the Dark Eldar the Demiurg vanguard retreated into the western hills of Rambut. In the wasteland of the western desert the Demiurg made their beach-head, digging into the hills, setting up their formidable artillery.

With their position secure the warriors began scouting the surrounding area. At this time a party of White Scars Space Marines was spotted. The Demiurg had not had any contact with their allies since making planetfall so signalled to the Space Marines.

It was not until the White Scars closed on their position that the Demiurg realised their error, the Space Marines were traitorous renegades. Luckily the enemy were expecting to make a surprise attack,but they had not counted on the efficiency of their opponents, something their brothers in the Iron Warriors Legion know all too well.

Before they could reach the Demiurg Warriors hastily erected defences, the artillery crews had already prepared their guns. The scouts, hidden in nearby ruins, relayed accurate firing solution to the gun commanders, enabling them to fire off a full salvo into the enemy before they could get into position. The enemy's jump troops went down in the first barrage.

As the battle continued both sides took heavy casualties, and the engagement turned into a meatgrinder. Unable to gain the advantage over the Demiurg's stubborn defence the renegades withdrew.

Although sustaining many casualties the Demiurg were able to secure and consolidate their position.

Scourge of Sobekk Campaign - Week 2

After making planetfall the Demiurg vanguard moved to sieze control of a seemingly deserted town. Taking up defensive positions thoughout the ruined buildings the warriors of Fleet Fellmire prepared to defend their position so that the main host could could arrive and expand the area into a strong defensinve position.

While investigating the ruins the Demiurg Enforcers made a worring realisation, there were no bodies. For such a devistated town there should have been the corpses of soldiers and civillians who died during it's destruction. Even if thedead had been cleared by survivors, some would have been missed.

No sooner had the Enforcers relayed their concern to the vanguard's leader, the venerable Ancestor Lord Somarle, than a warp gate opened right in the middle of the defenders position. In a swift and brutal assault the traitorous fae-kin slaughtered many brave warriors and forced the survivors to abandon the town and retreat into the surrounding hills.

The Demiurg did not give their lives cheaply. Ancestor Lord Somarle led a brave counter-offensive against the Dark Eldar; if the Demiurg were going to die, they weren't going to go down without a fight.

Fog's Last Stand - Stag Apocalypse

Well I've had my stag do. It was a whole weekend long game of Apocalypse with pub/club on the Saturday night. A brilliant time was had all round. Here are some pics I took on my digital camera. There's some more of the setup on my proper camera but it died so I didn't get many pictures taken, and the film's not finished.

Gideon Prime - [elg] Apocalypse - 30/10/2010

The final Battle for Gideon Prime.

The Battlefield Is Set

This is the largest Apocalypse table I've played on to date.

Set-Up - White Scars host prepares to engage the Traitor Guard

Set-Up - Space Wolves armoured contingent deploys to bring their massive firepower to bear. Angron overlooks the battlefield.

The Loyalist Space Marines cower away from the World Eaters

The World Eaters' Slaughterfiends prepare to surge forward suppoted by their Primarch, The Blood Prince Angron

The World Eaters' Dark Eldar allies move to engage the White Scars

A Brass Scorpion of Khorne supports the Imperial Guard on the right flank

The Forlorn Hope, a lone White Scars combat squad, launch the first action of the battle. Suicidally dropping in behind the Khorne Warhound and the Daemon Primarch Angon of the World Eaters. In respect of their bravery Angron gave orders the World Eaters were not to engage the unit.

The Brass Scorpion rushes towards a large troop of White Scars bikers, firing wildly with it's scorpion cannon.

The remaining bikers hold their ground before the Brass Scorpion's assault.

A Razorback of the White Scars takes aim at the Dark Eldar Revenant.

Angron launches a devastating assault against the Tyranid's Carnifex vanguard, causing hideous wounds before turning to face his nemesis; Marneus Calgar, Lord of Macragge.

After a close fought assault Angron defeats the Carnifexes and Calgar's Honour Guard and moves off to engage the Tyranid synapse creatures cowering at the rear, dropping a Vortex Grenade mid-flight. (the blast marker with a 'V' on it)

The Forlorne Hope finally receive reinforcements; a full 20 terminators and three multi-melta armed Land Speeders. Unfortunately for them the Terminators are almost entirely wiped out as they arrive by concentrated fire from both the Warhound Titan and the Space Wolves' super heavy tank.

More reinforcements arrive in the forms of Blood Angels. A Storm Raven and Terminators engage the Revenant while the rest move to engage the Warhound.

The Space Wolves tanks continue to trade fire with the Loyalist's Shadowsword.

The wounded Marneus Calgars proves his bravery by engaging and destroying a Slaughterfiend in close combat.

The Blood Angels assault manages to breach the Khorne Warhound's highly unstable reactor. The resulting explosion engulfs the titan and all those near it in a blinding ball of superheated plasma.

The power of Khorne manifests itself in the resurrected Warhound Titan.

The Tyranids launch a surprise assault on the rear of the Traitor Guard, almost wiping them out before they could react. the resurrected Warhound turned it's weapons on the new threat and reduces almost all to ashes in a single volley.

Angron accurately reading the enemy's battle plan moved into position as the Space Marines' Vanguard Veterans dropped to the battlefield. With a single sweep of his mighty chainaxe Angron renders the Space Marines' elite warriors to tatters.

With the centre entirely under his allies control Angron moves to finish off the last remaining Tyranid Warrior.

Angron casually dispatches the lone Tyranid Warrior.

On the near left flank a combined force of Space Wolves and Grey Knights move forward, finishing off the last resistance and capturing their objective.

On the far left flank a last bitter assault between the Space Wolves and Tyranids may well decide the outcome of the battle.

On the near left flank the White Scars valiantly held their ground under fire from a World Eater Hell Blade (fresh from sniping a Vindicare assassin) and Traitor Guard Leman Russ tanks.

The Warhound Titan holds the Tyranit's Super Screamer, denying the enemy a vital objective.

As the battle comes to a close Angron leaps to the aid of the Space Wolves support line.

With the far left flank still under threat the Space Wolves in the centre move to support their brothers.

The battle for Gideon Prime comes to a close With the combined force of World Eaters, Space Wolves and Traitor Guard emerging victorious.

Wolves at the Gate

On Saturday I had the pleasure of taking to the field with my Demiurg army for a massive Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse game. The game was about 40,000 points a side with one side attacking and one side defending.

On the defenders were an allied force of Eldar and Demiurg. Facing them was a combined force of Space Wolves and Chaos Imperial Guard. Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Imperial Guard, who were engaged on the planet turned to face the new threat.

Before Setup

Before Setup

[img][/img]

Before Setup

Blood Angels and Dark Angels deployment

Left Flank Deployment

Scattered Demiurg units defend their position against some of the toughest units in the opposing force.

Right Flank attackers deployment.

Leading the way on the right flank the World Eaters send forth a horde of berserkers led by Kharn The Betrayer. Fighting alongside them was a pack of fearsome Slaughterfiends.

Following the World Eaters into battle came the Space Wolves.

Centre Left

A small raiding force of Eldar appear behind enemy lines to strike at the exposed rear, forcing the attackers to split their force to deal with this new enemy.

Left Flank (the drop pods are in reserve)

Mixed forces of Chaos and Space Wolves prepare their assault on the scattered Demiurg defenders.

Left Flank

The Eldar deploy in support of the Demiurg on the left flank.

Centre

The first wave of the Space Wolves drop pod assault lands in the centre of the defenders' lines.

Right Flank

The Demiurg and Blood Angels support sections overlooking the centre of the battlefield.

Much of the attacking World Eaters have been depleted by concentrated artillery fire from the Demiurg support weapon batteries. Two of the Slaughterfiends have been immobilised, effectively neutralising them.

Right Flank

Following the Ravenwing teleport homers the Deathwing arrive to block the path of the remaining attackers.

Centre-Left

The soul engines, controlled by dead Eldar, advance into the centre to claim an objective.

Left Flank

The enemy on the left flank advance, inflicting heavy losses on the Demiurg defenders.

Far Left Flank

A Demiurg and Kroot scouting force ambush and destroy an Imperial Guard rearguard.

Left Flank

Chaos and Space Wolf predator tanks support the advancing attackers.

Centre

The Death Guard advance up the centre, pushing forward to relieve the battered Space Wolves.

Centre

With the entire Space Wolf drop pod assault now in the fight the defenders are hard pressed to hold back the enemy in their midst.

Left Flank

The attackers on the left flank advance relatively unopposed. The few Demiurg forces in the area valiantly move forward to engage the enemy in close quarters.

Centre

The Death Guard arrive to support the Space Wolves but their way is blocked by Demiurg and Eldar fire support units.

Centre-right

The Ravenwing and Deathwing fight a bitter battle against the World Eaters and Space wolves on the right flank.

Right Flank

The attackers reinforcements arrive to deal with the Demiurg and Blood Angels firebase. Shrike and his wing lead the way with scouts in support.

Far Left Flank

The Kroot and Demiurg scouting force are engaged by their enemy's heavy hitters. Terminators of the World Eaters move to engage the Demiurg while Byorn The Fell Handed and a unit or Sisters of Battle Seraphim squad storm the largest of the Kroot units.

Far Left Flank

The Kroot face off against the Seraphim and Bjorn before being whittled down by concentrated fire. The largest Kroot unit was engaged by both enemies and were reduced from 20 brave warriors down to just 4.

The remaining Kroot were charged by Bjorn.

Left Flank

The combined forces of the Blood Angels and Demiurg engage the advancing Space Wolf bikers while a World Eaters Hell Blade fighter swoops low to strafe the defenders lines.

The Demiurg Thunderers, fresh from felling Canis Wolfborn move their attention to the bikers.

Left Flank

Kroot Stalkers move into position, ready to add their fire in support of their Demiurg paymasters.

Right Flank

The Eldar's Revanant titan, down to its last structure point, jumped away from the Space Wolves in the centre to support the Dark Angels forces.

Centre

The Space Wolves from the drop pod assault spread out to engage the Demiurg and Eldar forces surrounding them.

Left Flank

After dealing with the Demiurg warriors in their path the Chaos forces push towards the objective supported by the Space Wolf bikers. The World Eaters dreadnought protects the rear.

Far Left Flank - Near Corner

The lone unit of Demiurg warrior holding the left corner against invading scouts are reinforced when a Blood Angels and Eldar relief force arrive.

Far Left Flank

Scouts arrive on the flank, surprising the World Eater Terminators and a unit of Demiurg sappers move forward in a suicidal bid to bring down Bjorn.

Centre-Left

The Eldar sweep along the rear of the enemy lines sowing havoc amongst their unsuspecting foes.

Right Flank

The bloody battle on the right flank heats up as the World Eater Lords tear into the Dark Angels with their daemon weapons.

Right Flank

The Leman Russ battle tanks protecting the Shadowsword move to engage Shrike's Wing.

Centre

The remaining Demiurg Warriors in the centre, under the leadership of the Ancestor Lords, stubbornly hold on despite overwhelming odds and terrible losses.

Left Flank

The Eldar Dark Reapers and Demiurg Thunderers pour fire into the advancing bikers, destroying all the bikes and wounding the attack bike.

Far Left Flank

The Demiurg Sapper Engage Bjorn while their Kroot allies move forward to engage enemies further afield.

The Kroot Carnivore Kindred moves along the rear while the poisonous Kroot Headhunters move into the ruin to engage a unit of Chos Obliterators.

Right Flank

Shrike splits off from his unit so that they can engage separate support weapon crews, wiping them both out. This leaves Shrike open to direct direct fire from the Drake's twin-linked rapier laser destroyer.

Far Right Flank

The rearguard on the right flank is attack by outflanking enemies.

Battle overview from the right flank.

Centre

The drop zone for the Space Wolf Drop Pod Assault. On the right the Demiurg robots fight a bitter close combat with their foes.

The Conquer fire support robot stubbornly battles on against three Space Wolf characters, including Ragnar Blackmane. The smaller Castellan siege robot fights in support of Eldar Howling Banshees against the remains of two units.

Centre-left

The Eldar continue to defend their objective while a Demiurg spotter team and Eldar Autarch finish off a Death Guard Terminator unit.

Centre-Left - Rear

The Chaos Terminators and Chaos Space Marines disembark from their transports and move on the objective.

Far Left Flank - Rear

The Blood Angels and Demiurg warriors engage the Chaos Space Marines and World Eater Terminators.

Far Left Flank

The Kroot Headhunters assault the Chaos Obliterators while a large unit of Imperial Guard wipe out the remaining Kroot Carnivore Kindred.

The Sappers engaged with Bjorn manage to fasten a melta-bomb to his armoured body. The powerful explosive detonates, destroying the ancient dreadnought.

Left Flank

Reaching the final stages of the battle, the Eldar Scorpion boosts above the surrounding buildings to gain a better vantage point.

And there ends the game. It ended with a win for the defenders, including me! I gave away 19 kill points, mostly in the last turn. My units took some of the most severe beatings dished out but stubbornly held on, with a couple of warriors left in each unit by the last turn, but were finally defeated.

My characters performed admirably with all 3 surviving the battle. The artillery batteries played their part well, clearing much of the Space Wolves from the drop pod assault. I was surprisingly accurate with my scatter dice.

I really enjoyed the game. All the defending forces coordinated their efforts well, defending each other and catching the enemy in lethal crossfires.