Foul Xenos! (Let's play WH40K: Final Liberation)

[The Yosemite Bear]

great hairy one requests entry.

[TheHammer]

This is turning into the X-Com Apocolypse thread all over. Albeit a lot shorter

[Nephtys]

No, I was out of town. I just got back, so I'm going to be posting the next ones and resuming at a regular pace shortly.

[Nephtys]

+++ Inquisitor Nephtys' Codex +++
+++ REF: The Liberation of Volistad, M41.841 +++
+++ Ordo Xenos Archives +++

+++ Skirmish at Stavok Province +++


Freshly landed and ready for a fight, the 81st Tallarn was sent east of the landing zone to secure the Stavok province. If this region could be taken, a two-prong assault on Gorshkov Hive could begin. Newly promoted Captain Hawkwings lead this advance with his platoon of heavy weapons infantry and Chimera transports. His second, Lieutenant Karrick commanded a squadron of Leman Russ battle tanks, the true fist of the Emperor. Sgt. Barnest's Basilisk squadron provided highly mobile artillery support for this mobile company.


The first objective is to secure this road junction and the prometheum tanks. Once captured, this area could be used as a major logistics point for the hive assault.


The second is to press all the way out towards the ruined perimeter walls of the bay, leading directly to the Gorshkov Island.


Upon initial recon sightings of Ork Goff-clan Infantry, Karrick's artillery battery was called into action, shelling any potential enemy sighting. Although no casualties were confirmed, it slowed the advance of orks as the armored column rolled up the road.


The lead Chimera of the column spotted groups of Orks near the valuable prometheum tanks, clearly waiting to ambush the Leman Russes as they came around the bend. They engaged the Orks in a close range firefight, vehicle crews confident in the armor of their Chimeras.


Captain Hawkwings disembarked from his command Chimera to join the combat, right as stray Ork small-arms fire cause his vehicle to explode in a massive conflagration, killing the entire heavy weapons section still in the vehicle. Angered by such, his men flank the Orks in a pincher movement, slaying many of the greenskins.


The 81st Tallarn Infantry advance through the ork bodies, caught off-guard by the sudden armored thrust. The first prometheum tank and road junction are secured quickly. The battle was going quite well, as the Leman Russ squadron advances, firing their battle cannons, heavy bolters and lascannons at any Ork popping it's foolish head up.



Lt. Karrick's Leman Russ breaks off from the squadron's formation, recklessly charging forward and gunning down fleeing Xenos. The overkill of shooting a single Ork with an armor-piercing Battlecannon shell is something that would cause invasion Logisticians much grief.


Aside from their cowardly Ambush, the Orks just seemed to give way. Strange, considering the usual aggression of the Ork, but who can truly understand the Alien? The Company continues, moving around for the last objective.


Suddenly, a large explosion enveloped the lead Leman Russ. All eyes dart towards a hole in the ruins wall, to the sight of an unknown Ork vehicle! Heavilly armored, our Tech-Priest Explorators suggest it may be a heavilly armored tank destroyer, equal in firepower and superior in frontal armor to the Leman Russ! Unlike our holy Imperial armor however, it only mounts one weapon system, such is the crudity of Ork design.


Orkish vehicles confirmed, Karrick's artillery battery rains down upon them, shattering the crude vehicles.


Captain Hawkwings recieves word of all quiet in the ruined structure. He personally leads the scouting mission, eager for vengeance for his slain men. Two sharp reports claim his men, as an Ork Mek stood there, working on a pair of yet-inoperable Ork tanks. He dispatched the beast with a sweep of his power sword, and claimed the foul Ork vehicles for later inspection.


Victory for the Imperium. A routine conquest for our valiant soldiers, but a substantial one nonetheless. It was the first appearance of Ork heavy armor of unusual design, capable of defeating even the mighty Leman Russ. The appearance of more terrible war machines would soon follow...

+++

[RecklessPrudence]

If you've got slots left in your force org chart, I'll take something to do with artillery, preferably a Basilisk, Griffon or Hydra sort of thing, mounted on a vehicle and mobile when not laying fire out.

...(relatively) fast speeds, BIG explosions, mostly out of danger, as orks don't seem to have heard of counter-battery fire, what's not to like?

[Force Lord]

The Captain demands a return to action, to kill more greenskins. That is all.

[HMS Sophia]

I demand I get recognition for my battery... Unless there are two batteries, but I don't think so...

[Hawkwings]

Righteous fury! By blade and by mighty tread these greenskins shall fall!

[Nephtys]

I demand I get recognition for my battery... Unless there are two batteries, but I don't think so...

Oops. Administratum error. Uh. (has the commissar execute this... mutineer!)

[OmegaChief]

"You have failed me for the last time heretic" *Strangles*

[Karrick]

They scratched my tank!

[Nephtys]

+++ Inquisitor Nephtys' Codex +++
+++ REF: The Liberation of Volistad, M41.841 +++
+++ Ordo Xenos Archives +++

+++ Roster Update +++

184th Mordian Iron Guard
1st Company Commissar - OmegaChief
1st Company Command Platoon + Chimeras - Captain Force Lord
1st Company Bombard Squadron - Sgt. Kendall

2nd Company Leman Russ Squadron - Captain Xthetenth
2nd Company Heavy Weapons Team + Chimeras - Lt. McSoldier
2nd Company Mortar Crew - Bucher, Naval Armsman

82nd Tallarn Armored
1st Company Command Platoon - Captain Hawkwings
1st Leman Russ Squadron - Lt. Karrick
1st Basilisk Squadron - Sgt. Barnest


+++ Liberation of Gorshkov Hive +++


Now with the Hive nearly enveloped, Commissar Holt decided it was time to strike their first prize: The gleaming spires of Gorshkov, laid low but still teeming with millions. As the last conquest of the Orks, pockets of human resistance remained within and the mighty factory-forges remained potentially intact. They had to be secured, lest the Bad Moon Lootas defile it's sacred industry. New reinforcements arrived to bolster the 184th Mordian for this major operation.


Commissar OmegaChief returned to the field alongside Captain ForceLord for the main assault, while the Tallarn 82nd were on a diversionary operation, drawing as many Orks away from the field of battle as they could. Deployment was conventional, in accordance with the Tactica Imperialis. Captain Forcelord would ride with his command Platoon in Chimera Transports, in an armored spearhead with Captain Xthetenth's newly reinforced Leman Russ Squadron.

Sgt. Kendall's Bombard Squadron would take position behind, with instructions to clear out ruined buildings with it's massive siege mortar, lest Ork ambushers get close enough to damage the Imperial Armor.


Deployed just to the south of Forcelord's force, Commissar OmegaChief returned with his new augmetics, eager to ride his salvaged Rhino back into battle after both had recovered from their first action. His first action was to execute the leader of the 184th's Mortar Detatchment for cowardice in requesting a more secure deployment position. Without anyone else trained in the arcane art of 'ballisticks' however, he invoked his authority as senior Commissar to acquire a naval rating from Martyrs Eternus with gunnery training, Armsman Bucher, to lead this unit. Finally, moving up the southern Flank would be Lt. McSoldier's Heavy Weapons platoon, mounted in their Chimeras.


The first Objective on the approach to the main spire was to take the road and this Imperial Manufactorum. The second would be to press on to the north-east, and secure the main entryway to the Hive Itself. Without this crucial gateway, the Orks within would be cut off and trapped between our forces and the remaining defenders within.


Sightings of Orkish War-Buggies were of some concern as they patrolled the perimeter. Crude and fast, these war-buggies mounted large caliber autocannon possibly able to damage Imperial Vehicles.


The first shot was fired by Bucher's Mortar batteries, opening up at sightings of small Ork mobs near the Manufactorum. Their shells hit with deadly volleys, catching many of the Orks in the open and killing several, covering the advance of the armor.


Sgt. Kendall's Bombards fired in sequence at one particular Ork Stronghold, estimated to hold at least 40 of the Xenos.


Massive Shells struck the building, colapsing it entirely and crushing the Orks within under tons and tons of ceramacrete.


ForceLord and Xthetenth's armored column ran into resistance as Orkish heavy weapons opened up on them from within another ruined building. Fortunately, no shot penetrated their armor, though they had to stop to engage in a long-range firefight.


While the 1st Company was occupied, Commissar OmegaChief's Rhino turned just as a massive shell struck the ground beside it, kicking up a wave of dust. Popping his hatch and producing his Magnoculars, he spotted a new class of Ork Vehicle: A Battlewagon, with covered top and large turret.


Commissar OmegaChief made Vox-Transmission to the bogged down armor of the 1st Company, directing their fire upon the Orks from the side, where they had the advantage over the enemy vehicles in the open. Battlecannon and Lascannon blasts wrecked two of the crude vehicles outright, while the third turned into reverse gear to flee the slaughter.


As the escorting War-Buggies drove to the aid of the Battle-Wagons, Lt. McSoldier's heavy weapons dismounted from their Vehicles along with the Commissar Himself, firing into and destroying most of the flimsy vehicles with close range rocket fire. Survivors fled on foot and bike for cover of a large nearby warehouse.


The warehouse took a stray bombard round, guided no doubt by the Emperor's providence and came crashing to the ground in a cloud of smoke.


Finally the fleeing Battlewagon thought it had reached safety, before a blessed Seige Mortar shell landed on it with a direct hit, transforming the crude war-engine into smouldering wreckage.


"All too easy" mused the Commissar, who watched the cowardly Orks flee. He raised his mechanical arm and power fist, gripping. "Forward! I will handle them myself."
Eager to carry the victory through, Commissar OmegaChief ordered his men to mount up once more into their transports, and took to his Rhino as well to race down the street, their vehicle guns cutting down Orks as they drove. He turned, waving his sword in the air at a new enemy sighting in a wrecked building to the north...


"Commissar, enemy vehicle to the north!" "...What?! NOOOOOOOOOO *Boom*
Before he could react, a battlecannon shell struck the Rhino directly in the side, blowing out the front engine panels and instantly killing it's crew once more. The Commissar was nowhere to be seen.


"Ohmyterra, they killed the Commissar! You Bastards!" cried out McSoldier, who now used the opportunity to take cover behind a Chimera without fear of being executed for cowardice. "Fire at it, men!"
Watching their Commissar explode in yet another hideous conflagration, McSoldier's heavy weapons dismounted, lest their Chimeras suffer the same fate. They formed around the twisted wreck of the Rhino, using it and their vehicles for cover as they ineffectually fired Krak Missile after Krak Missile into the well-dug-in Battlewagon. Unfortunately, the Orkish ambush site was perfect, with excellent cover.


The lead Chimera, now with it's troops dismounted took a direct hit and exploded as well, showering several neavy troopers with metal fragments. Lt. McSoldier himself went down to a tiny peice of Shrapnel tearing effortlessly through his flak armor.


"Ork Ambush! Take out that vehicle, Armored Fist Squads, all in!" *sounds of explosions and screams*
Seeing his Commissar's vehicle explode, Captain Forcelord moved around the North to outflank the entrenched Xeno tank. His lead chimera however, turned a corner only to meet the barrel of a second vehicle. Another direct hit penetrated into the side of the Chimera, through it's fuel tanks, and out the other end, killing both squads aboard.


A second Chimera from the Command Platoon raced forward, knowing the Ork tank that had just slain it's comrades had to reload the massive battlecannon. As it turned the corner to drop troops and fire however, a THIRD Ork Vehicle fired, smashing clean through the thickest frontal armor plate and causing another deafening explosion.


"Holy Terra! Take cover! To anyone who's left, fire with everything you've got on my position, right now!"
Miraculously, Captain ForceLord's vehicle was the only one not hit, and he dismounted, sticking to the wall for cover as he shouted over the Vox for a fire mission. This Ork bunker was the last obstacle before the Hive, and it had already claimed four of his vehicles and most of his Platoon.


Upon wings of fire, a Seige Mortar barrage landed through the open roof of the Bunker, crashing down to destroy one of the Orkish Vehicles.


Roaring in, Lt. Xthetenth's Leman Russ rolled in and stopped between the wreckage of both Chimeras, absorbing a hit from the Orkish Battlecannon it's her mighty armored plate. Traversing his own battlecannon, he placed a shell right through the turret ring of the vehicle, blasting it in half.


Following right along, another Leman Russ of his squadron rolled up and fired into the Ork Battlewagon from behind at it's vulnerable rear armor, lascannon and shell smashing into and through this vile ork creation.


Gorshkov Hive's entryway was now secure, but at great cost. Half of the company's infantry and transports dead, and the Commissar once more nowhere to be found.


Soon after, the remaining Orks in the Hive were rounded up and slain, each isolated and confused by our attack. Surviving guard forces within offered what they had remaining, though it would take some time to bring the manufactorums and forges back online to churn out new weapons.


We now have available the Hellhound Flame-Tank, a powerful vehicle designed to burn the Xeno in massive sprays of cleansing holy flame. Often said to be unlucky and despised by crews for their volatility, the Hellhound nonetheless would be a powerful asset in clearing out the hordes of Ork infantry. Of course, attrition rates with such vehicles are staggeringly high...


Manticore Rocket Artillery is now available. Capable of delivering an even more powerful volley than the Space Marine Whirlwind or Imperial Basilisk, the Manticore suffers from requiring a reload between large volleys of it's powerful Storm-Eagle pattern Rockets.


More impressive still, Gorshkov Hive retained a number of these mighty weapons: the Deathstrike cruise missile. Each vehicle carried but a single missile, which in turn carries a choice of different payloads. The Plasma Barrage Warhead bombards a large area with powerful detonations, while the Vortex Warhead tore open a rift in space that annihilates anything it touches, moving about for some time after creation. Finally, the Titan-Slaying Warp Warhead can penetrate any Void or Power Field, dealing massive damage to even the largest of enemy Gargant or Battle Titan.

Gorshkov Hive would prove a critical turning point in the war for Volistad, a sign that victory may indeed be possible. But the elation of the day would soon fade as Warboss Skoll saw the true threat our Invasion force posed to his waaaugh.

+++

[xthetenth]

Glory to the emperor and the tanks that bring his servants victory! I get to drive a tank, and it's performing to specifications. Most excellent!

[OmegaChief]

When I no doubt eventually make my way back to the men (And execute at least one person for cowardice) I think I'll recommend some hellhounds, we can never have enough clensing flame.

Plus we need to see if I can go three for three dying in battle, soon I'll have enough augmatics to make a Tech-Preist jealous!

[doom3607]

Lt. Doom von Doomicus, signing up as the stark-raving-mad fanatical leader of a swarm of cannon fodder brave and glorious Guardsmen, who all loyal citizens should definitely aspire to be! Ignore those casualty reports, they're all put out by heretics and vile xenos. And vile heretical xenos.

[Vanas]

A Hellhound is like a Chimera but better. We've removed the squishy men who die when the armour is penetrated and replaced them with tons of volatile fuel with which to liberally douse the foul enemy. I can see no way this can possibly end badly.

That and we seem to be running out of Chimeras.*cough*

Sign me up!

[The Yosemite Bear]

remember Hellhounds can't carry troups, however they have blues musicians in their crews, along with guys who make moonshine, and good bbq too.

[Asdeed]

Manticores deliver the Emperor's highly explosive wrath! Sign me up if there's room.

[HMS Sophia]

It appears my basilisks did.... absolutely nothing... oh well...

[OmegaChief]

Clearly you need to drive them into the heart of battle waving your sword around from the crew platform.

Nothing bad ever happens to people who do that!

[Connor MacLeod]

I'll take a deathstrike until something more destructive comes along.

[Force Lord]

Once again we are victorious! I believe we are blessed by His Holiness the God-Emperor.

[White Haven]

The clan McSoldier exists to die in the service of the Emperor!

We perform this duty very, very well.

[Nephtys]

+++ Inquisitor Nephtys' Codex +++
+++ REF: The Liberation of Volistad, M41.841 +++
+++ Ordo Xenos Archives +++


Simultaneous with the victory at Gorshkov Hive, the 82nd Tallarn launched a thrust east-ward into the region of Vlasov after an unopposed Amphibious landing. Commissar Holt reminded the men that it was 'Imperial Providence' no doubt that the Orks cowered in fear of the oncoming Imperial invasion.


Leading the effort was Captain Hawkwing's first Company of the 82nd Tallarn Armored, leading from his heavy weapons platoon mounted aboard the two remaining Chimeras. Lt. Karrick's Leman Russ platoon would form the main thrust of the attack, while Sgt. Barnest's Basilisk unit reconfigured for direct-fire over the open plain.




The reason for such an easy landing soon became clear: The Orks were waiting to slaughter the landing party on open ground, outnumbering our forces nearly three to one in a cunning trap. Three groups of 'Lungbursta' Assault Guns, five Buggies and several groups of Orkish bikers roared aross the broken farmland and through the ruins of the Vlasov town.


Speeding forward to secure the town, Captain Hawkwings dismounted from his command Chimera, his heavy weapons troopers firing on the oncoming Orkish bikes. They fell quickly to massed fire, especially with the artillery support of Barnest's Basilisks in direct-fire mode. His swift actions prevented the horde of highly mobile enemy troops from entering assault range of the more vulnerable tanks.


Lt. Karrick's tank places an expert shot in a flanking Buggy, exploding it violently as it roared in to attack the artillery from the southern flank.


Sgt. Barnest's Artillery had a massive range advantage on the large Ork armored column from the south, firing direct shells from his Earthshaker cannons. Several of the Ork vehicles were hit directly and destroyed.


But while the outnumbered Force made a good showing at long range, mobs of Orks and vehicles fired a hail of shots at Captain Hawkwings' unit, cutting him down brutally and all of his men. In an act of defiance, his last remaining trooper fired a rocket which glanced harmlessly off the Lead Ork Tank before he rushed back into the Chimera for cover. The rest of the Platoon fled for their lives under heavy fire.


Their sacrifice however, turned the entryway to the town into a horrific mess. Peices of Ork bike, tank and warrior lay strewn about the smashed ruins.


The southern attack force was unable to close safely. Although their heavy frontal plate seemed to offer some protection against Leman Russ battlecannon and lascannon shots, the Basilisks blasted clean through them when loaded with proper armor-penetrating rounds.


Pressing forward into the town, the lead scout Chimera exploded as an ambushing Lungbursta fired straight through it at point blank range, killing the last member of Hawkwings' command squad.


Turning to exact vengeance, a Leman Russ rolled around, heavy bolter sponsons blazing and finished off the treacherous Xeno tank.

---


In the aftermath, Commissars Holt and the recovering Commissar OmegaChief (with his even newer Augmetics) held a field funeral for the valiant Captain Hawkwings, the first officer to fall in the conflict, leading the charge. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Skull for his actions. However, the fate of his men was far different. The remains of the two Squads that had fled the field soon were tried and found guilty of cowardice in the face of the enemy. Each member was summarily executed before a review of the remaining 82nd Tallarn at the very same battlefield that had claimed so many lives. The reputation of OmegaChief grew more ominous, as he personally throttled the coward squad leader with his power fist, claiming that the man 'had failed him for the last time'.

Still, the victory further consolidated Imperial holdings on the planet and allowed further reinforcements to land from the Martyrs Eternus. Likewise, new materiel from Gorshkov Hive became available, as reinforcements bolstered the strength of the 184th Mordian and 82nd Tallarn. These reinforcements would arrive just in time for Imperial Forces to face their most terrifying encounter yet...

+++

[HMS Sophia]

Ha-ha! AP rounds=tank death from my long barrelled beauties
Sergeant barnest is very pleased with today's conflict