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Honda's Blog: Pathos IV, Defense of the Artifact, Conclusion

4/27/2015

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Pathos IV: Battle Ensues
[Last week we saw the Imperial forces fully arrayed against the Eldar menace. Unfortunately, the Eldar kin did not deploy initially, causing confusion in the ranks of the Imperial war machine. When the Eldar kin did deploy, the Imperial commanders discovered that they had been lured into a trap. Not only had the Eldar kin hidden behind the blind barrage laid out by the Imperial supporting units, but were taken aback to find that a host of the gigantic Dreamwalkers had completed their encirclement and arrived behind the Imperial's strongest flank. Soon volleys of wraith weapons began to rend the cornerstone of the Imperials left flank, a gigantic Baneblade constructed of golden armor.  Yet the Imperials had their own tricks to reveal]


+++ VOX INTERCEPT: S0:M9-3658
+++ VOX NODE: 430.823.214.23
+++ BATTLE PROTOCOL: VERMILLION

SOURCE 1: Feth! Why aren't the defense batteries firing? What is wrong with them?

SOURCE 2: Sir, scanning auguries indicate that nothing is within range!

SOURCE 1: Well, why the feth not? How can they fething avoid us like that?

+++ VOX INTERCEPT: S0:M9-3658
+++ VOX NODE: 430.823.214.23
+++ BATTLE PROTOCOL: VERMILLION

It was truly frightening to see their large constructs so close to our lines.

How was it possible that something so immense could move with such subtlety? As our forces continued to surround the terrible host, others closer to the front line pushed ahead, determined to crush the vile war host as it emerged from the smoke screen.


Operation Murder Deep. A secret of our own. We were not sure if this operation would yield results as it depended on the Eldar kin not giving us the credit for cleverness. All communications on this effort were hand written notes. No servitors were used for labor as High Command did not want any noospheric leakage to reveal our intentions.

The practice was uncovered during one of my long sojourns into the Imperial War Archives. A phrase from an ancient Russ Oligarchy, maskirovka, was briefly described in one fragment from an ancient codex dating back to Terra's earliest of periods in M2, a time known for total conflict across the globe.

And so deep beyond our battle lines, we buried a fortress. We covered it with rubble and dead trees. Upon the completion of their task, the soldiers involved in the labor were broken up into small groups, no more than a typical scouting detachment and told to make their way back to safe grounds on their own. Some never made it back for reasons unknown.

And now it was time to reveal our play.

A mighty engine of the Stormlord class was summoned.  The Venator Vitae came alive and began burrowing out of its hole. There seemed to be some visible consternation on the part of the Eldar kin, as if they too asked, "How could they do this?"

As the mighty engine drew near their forces, we could hear the piercing whine of its mighty guns ramp up. Shortly thereafter, a screeching howl ripped the air as we saw trees and buildings deconstructed with massive violence. Among those huddled lumps of rubble, we observed the remains of one of the Eldar transports, shredded and smoking. Those among our lines began to cheer, for our great efforts had resulted in a violent  effect, severely wounding those we would seek to destroy.

Next we saw the mighty engine from Titan leapt down from its perch within  a ruin and drawing its sword, cleave one of their head witches in two. The flash of sparks as he ripped the speeding hover bike in half, highlighted the follow on effort of skewering the shattered body and holding it high for everyone to see. To support his efforts, air assets were speeding towards him.

Our greater concern however remained the penetration of our back lines by the host of giants. Despite marshaling a great many resources to deal with their incursion, they appeared to remain standing strong, little worse  for wear.

What  witchery is this? I saw with my own eyes multiple  strikes from our most fearsome weapons land upon them again and again, yet still they stand resolute, blade weapons knocking aside the flashing arrows from lascannon and melta weapons alike. How is it that they continue to stand before us, rendering our fiercest attacks harmless?

How is this possible?

But the Eldar kin were not done yet. In fact they were just beginning.

In response, our super heavy support on the left flank was wiped out with a single stroke, resulting in a cataclysmic explosion that created a painfully significant void in our lines. Sadly, only one of the giants was taken down in the resulting conflagration.

The giants then continued their dance, moving  with grace and great force toward separate targets of opportunity deeper in our lines. Instantly, I began to doubt that we had  enough reserves to deal with them, let alone the war hosts heading towards our battle lines.

Deep in their backfield, I observed a flock of  their aircraft swooping down out of the clouds to begin the  assault on those  forces engaged with the Venator Vitae. In my heart I felt that that if those brave warriors could just hold on long enough, then our reserves would  be able to expand upon their beachhead and pin the Eldar between our two great fists.

But that was not part of the Eldar plan.

Soon, like vicious  antibodies responding to a foreign object within its own body, the Eldar began to surround our mighty fortress and deliver its destruction. When the Librarium ensconced within the safety of their mobile fortress, began to crawl out of the wreckage, they realized that their heroic actions would be short lived. Arrayed before them, a reception composed of Eldar wraith constructs and their attendants, along with their dark kin.

Their intentions were clear, the immediate destruction of this counter-attacking force.

Drawn together as only a band  of brothers can, the Librarium stood back to back with the mighty Lord Draigo, defiant to the end. We began to weep as we saw one  after another succumb to the overwhelming fire directed at their magnificence.

Later, it pained me to realize that  some of the greatest minds in the galaxy were torn  from its fabric, never to be seen again.

On the deep right, our indignities continued to manifest. Enraged at the vicious display of victory over their leader, the forces surrounding the Nemesis Dreadknight unleashed an inevitable storm of fire upon his frame, slowly driving him to one knee, yielding but defiant to the end. For there he shall remain, an eternal memorial to the best that Titan Brotherhood has ever produced.

And still our fortunes continued to unravel before our eyes.

Out of the Empyrean, the dark kin issued forth, flooding our right flank. Monstrous constructs glided over to our forces, rending them in a frenzied display of brutality. I could see their flanks and fleshy appendages quivering as if in the throes of a passionate embrace, whilst a poisonous mewling issued from their face guards and torsos. All of which was overcome by the horrendous wailings of the troops they assaulted.

As the proud Astartes assault craft screamed through the skies, attempting to rescue brothers in need, a strange and horrifying scene unfolded.

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On our right flank, the flock of avians began to lift up from their roosts and soar into the sky. As they drew closer, it was clear that our assumptions had been wildly incorrect. They were not birds at all, but an aspect of Eldar warrior who emulated some ancient raptor.

To what effect we were unable to guess until it was too late.

Like certain varieties of Lepidoptera drawn to a flame, the flock of winged Eldar swarmed to the Astartes craft. Even though it was traveling many kilometers per second, the Eldar were able to match vectors with the inbound craft and many attached themselves to its surface. Still dumbfounded by this behavior, initially we began cheering at those Eldar who misjudged the path of the Astartes flyer, only to end up a bloody stain upon the fist with wings.

It was then in horror that we observed explosions upon the vehicle's surface resulting in control panels and engine components raining  down  from the sky. As the deadly flock parted to let the stricken vehicle  attempt to return back to its base, we saw an angel fall from the sky. Then another until the mortally wounded vehicle impacted the hard surface in front of our battle lines.

Even in this set back we drew encouragement as we observed two members of the Astartes drag themselves from the wreckage, along with their weapons and take a firing position within our lines.

Despite being uplifted by their stoic perseverance and near invulnerability, I looked to the multitude of our air defense detachments and then wondered, "Do we still not  own the skies?"

TURN 2 VICTORY POINTS: Imperial 7, Eldar kin 6

+++ VOX INTERCEPT: G5:T2-9331
+++ VOX NODE: 430.823.9.774
+++ BATTLE PROTOCOL: VERMILLION

SOURCE 1: The reasons for your failure are weak, inexcusable, and irrelevant. You fool, if you don't deal with them immediately, then it won't matter why.

+++ VOX INTERCEPT: G5:T2-9331
+++ VOX NODE: 430.823.9.774
+++ BATTLE PROTOCOL: VERMILLION


As I scanned the battlefield, I saw innumerable scenes of heroic endeavor, our forces fought with a passion and purpose that no enemy of mankind should hope to withstand.

And yet they did.

Time and again, the gigantic constructs dodged and weaved their way through hailstorms of lascannon and melta fire. Our finest  machineries of war were as nothing before their fierce assaults, not even the powerful  Land Raiders. At one moment, I stood dumbfounded as I watched our remaining bulwark, the Victa Vult,  roughly handled by constructs somersaulting over his great height to then quickly turn and strike  his weaker rear armor.

Even he appeared to be bleeding profusely.

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Nor had the skies become any safer. Although some of the Eldar kin aircraft had been downed, it was a surprisingly small amount despite the tremendous amount of metal thrown into the air. The wretched Eldar craft still found ways to weave their paths through the densest fire corridors and continue their missions.

Again the skies began to bleed Imperial blood, for another assault flyer, this one from the hallowed armories of Titan, was brought low by the same swarm of winged Eldar, though there were fewer of their number now than before.

Though the Brotherhoods drew deep from their well of battle magic, they appeared to be struggling against more powerful forces. It seemed they required significant  effort to influence their battle sectors.

Many of the Dark kin skimmers were swept from the sky due to their efforts, yet many more remained. So too, the Eldar flyers were less concentrated than in our previous engagement and therefore the effort was less rewarding. Perhaps they had developed new formations that avoided concentrations of our silver clad defenders.

Of more concern was the fact that despite their Brotherhood's best efforts, that too many of the Dark kin remained, their eyes crazed with a battle lust all out of proportion to their losses.

Sometimes, during the course of all things, there is a set of circumstances that demonstrate the valued of what one man can accomplish when he makes the decision to continue standing against the overwhelming tide and the rest of the facts have no bearing on the outcome. It is his will and his will alone that shall decide.

Lord Coteaz is such a man.

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By all accounts, he should have been crushed under the inexorable power and grace of the giant constructs, yet it seemed that he  and he alone refused to yield regardless of his circumstances. I do not know what eventually became of his fate, but I saw him battle one of the wraith giants continuously, not only earning its ire, but defiantly refusing to accept his inevitable death.

Unbelievably, he faced this terrifying giant with a smile on his face.

I shall remember that one instant for as long as I might live.

Suddenly, I heard something that I could scarcely believe, something that sucked the air directly out of my lungs as I began to consider the meaning and its consequences. In unison, the  Brotherhoods  from Titan cried  out, "AVENGE LORD DRAIGO!" redoubling their efforts and wading deeper into the ranks of the Dark kin.

Has this world completely succumbed  to madness?

Again, I look out at the battlefield and see islands of Imperial forces, surrounded and slowly being worn down by an unforgiving Eldar sea.

We are undone.

TURN 3 VICTORY POINTS: Imperial 8, Eldar kin 15

Eldar victory!


***

After Action Report

Seriously, EIGHT FREAKING WRAITHKNIGHTS!!!? Yeah eight of them.

In the previous game, it was very clear that the Imperials kicked our butts in the last half and  quite disturbingly enough, we couldn't stop  them from doing it. There were a couple of plays  that we might have done  better, but overall I felt like they outplayed us.

As Gar and I talked through our results, we came  to  realize that just adding more of what we already  had wouldn't make us more  effective. We needed  something to give us an edge.

After talking through our various options, Gar got a wild hair and when he does, things can get kind of dangerous. So he  proposed building up some Dreamwalker hosts. I had one WK  that Jefe had given me and I acquired another shortly thereafter from eBay.

So that was two.

Then Gar went kind of  crazy, which is never a good thing, though it can be rather entertaining.

So before we knew it, we had Wraithknights coming out of the woodwork. Also, if you've been following this blog, you saw me convert some odd looking falcon chassis.  About the same time we were looking at Wraithknights, we were also looking at Fire Prisms. They seemed like an interesting play, but in the end, didn't have the resilience and multiple capabilities evident in the knights.

And then I started thinking about Warp Runners and from there my imagination just went kind of off the rails. I ended up liking my unsung creations and they are an interesting addition to an Eldar force.

Gar also came up with another idea that had a significant impact on our game plan. In the last game, despite outnumbering the Imperial air force 2-1, we really struggled when faced with multiple Storm Ravens. That's one of the reasons I love playing with them, they are just beasts. The  12 armor makes them extremely tough.

Now last game, I sort of thought that our Crimson Hunters would have had a bigger effect on the game, but in reality, more than one Storm Raven working together can withstand a lot of shooting. So we needed something to keep those Storm Ravens away from our lines so that  they didn't punch holes in our  lines with all their "cleansing flame" Purifier bombs.

So, looking back at our Apocalypse archives, Gar discovered this  formation using Baharroth and Swooping Hawks. That formation allows  you to intercept aircraft within 48 inches of the Big B and attack it with haywire grenades. As soon as he showed that to me, I was sold.

So we committed to fielding 29 Swooping Hawks with Baharroth and that gave us a decisive edge in the air, something that we desperately needed.

Once we had lined up our forces, then the PM in me started fretting about getting all this stuff ready for the game. Gar, always wanting to keep things spicy, decided to get his PMP during our project schedule. That meant that he was literally gluing knights together on the  drive  up to the store.

Speaking of which, I wanted to give a big shout out to Fat Ogre's, the hobby store that hosted our game. They are a great bunch of guys and were very supportive of  our efforts. Thanx again for everything.

You may be wondering why we ended after three turns. As we were playing through our half of that turn, it became clear that our plan had been very effective and that not only had we taken out or isolated the largest Imperial threats, but we had also taken control of  a large portion of the table and most of the objectives, with the Imperials lacking the forces to wrest control back.

From a story perspective, the Eldar had isolated the Artifact and  prevented the Imperials from foolishly invading  Chaos dimensions and  providing a multitude of psychic hosts to enter the physical realm with.

The Imperium will never know how close they came to unleashing a horror upon a multitude of systems.

As it was last time, the game was really made by those that played. I want to thank Jefe, Mo, Jordan and  Gar for making this whole story possible.

Until next time guys!

Cheers,


Epilogue

+++ VOX INTERCEPT: C2:U3-0001
+++ VOX NODE: 430.823.191.663
+++ BATTLE PROTOCOL: VERMILLION

SOURCE 1 START:

We tried father.

We brought the best that I could muster and more, but it was not enough. It was as if the wretched Eldar understood my motivations from the very beginning and through their infernal witchery and deception prevented me from rescuing  you.

My heart might as well have been torn from my body, knowing that I shall never see you again. I cannot conceive of what you must be going through.

<sound of explosions>

They are near, father. The Eldar appear to be engaged in a pogrom, for I see no mercy being extended, no emotions evinced.

We are to be annihilated.

<sound of louder explosions>

If by some miracle this vox script should survive and end up in your hands, I would ask for leniency in your judgment despite my failure.

Truly, I tried, father.

Titus Quinctus Secundus, on this day in the Emperor's light, M41.99-...

SOURCE 1 END:

+++ VOX INTERCEPT: C2:U3-0001
+++ VOX NODE: 430.823.191.663
+++ BATTLE PROTOCOL: VERMILLION



Prelude: The Short Unhappy Life of Titus Quinctus
Assault on Pathos IV: Part 1
Assault on Pathos IV: Part 2
Interlude 1: Transformation
Interlude 2: Look at the Rock
Assault on Pathos IV: Part 3
Assault on Pathos IV: Part 4
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