Ursus' first command

Last night was my first game of Spearhead, and I took my Space Wolves with a couple of Grey Knight Allies, 4 Dreads and a Hellhammer superheavy (a baneblade that got told it was a Hellhammer to be precise.) I will let you decide how it went for me!

It was Ursus’ first time in command and he had been requested by the Inquisition to support them as they tried to stop Waaagh Nobrot, they had had reports of a Stompa leading a swarm of Killer Kans. Ursus had come up with a solid plan with the support of the Grey Knights and a Hellhammer, the Hellhammer would draw the Orks close before opening fire and the remaining forces would attack from various angles to cause disorder or chaos among the Orks.

As the Hellhammer trundled into position the Ork Stompa could be seen moving between buildings, the superheavy powered down so that the Orks crude sensors didn’t pick up its heat signature. Little did Ursus, or even the Inquisition know that the Orks had been cunning and three trukks roared to life only metres away from the idling tank, one Ork boy who had obviously spent the last few years on the target range fired its Rokkit and hit a power coupling crippling the tank but the warhead didn’t explode and drove deeper into its armour cutting more and more power cables and finally detonated deep within the Hellhammer amongst its high explosive ammunition, the Super heavy tank exploded in a nova of heat damaging all three Trukks and leaving a crater where the Imperials hopes once lay.

While Ursus’ squad prepared themselves in their drop pod, he remained in the Strategium to help plan the counter assault. Two squads of Grey hunters with Meltaguns drove their rhinos recklessly behind enemy lines they quickly fired their tank destroying weapons and sheared off both the Stompas most fearsome weapons at the joints, but failed to be able to stop its rampage the same way the Orks destroyed their icon of victory.

As the Orks walker contraptions known as Killer Kans horded into the immediate vicinity, Ursus declared the beginning of their counter assault and his Grey Hunters deployed out of their Rhinos to face down the oncoming horde after it had been hit by a speeding Battlewagon. Ursus’ squad was launched and he saw them land amidst the enemy, it took a moment to realise he himself was supposed to be in the Drop Pod, and he dashed towards the launch bays to commandeer a Thunderhawk trying his best not to look like a complete fool as his squad held an entire army at bay. 

One of the dreadnoughts had finally arrived at the battle and opened up at the closest Ork Trukk destroying it with contemptuous ease causing the Orks inside to bail out before the towering machine charged into battle ripping two apart with its huge claws. The Grey Knights, although had been deployed were no-where to be seen and suspected that they had teleported to a different location after discovering a daemonic infestation elsewhere on the planet. 

 

The Ork Horde swarmed over the Space Wolves who had been abandoned by their Inquisition allies and their only hope lay in ruins before it had fired a shot. The Space Wolves were slowly torn apart by the Kans and the Stompa with little able to fight back as all their heavy weapons had been destroyed or elsewhere on the planet the Ork Waagh could only gain strengths in the coming days. Ursus landed and charged straight into the closest band of Orks supported by 3 Dreadnoughts but his last stand didn’t last long and the overwhelming numbers of the Orks tore him and the Dreadnoughts apart. The Orks had suffered few casualties compared to the Space Wolves and were eager for more destruction. But with nothing else in sight they turned their glaring red eyes towards the main hive of the planet.

Well as you can see, it went very very badly, but oh well, better luck next time eh.

[Editorial] The Primarchs - Then and Now Edition - Pt 1, The beginning

Once upon a time, the Emperor was to become a father, not to one child, nor two, but 20!

These children were not your average kids, they were made from his flesh and blood, literally. These were pretty much clones, they were built to represent the different aspects of war and we believe the Emperor himself!

The Emperor with 18 of his dearest children before they were cruelly whisked away.

Unfortunately, while the Primarchs (which his kids were lovingly called) were still in their gestation tubes a tragedy befell them and they were scattered throughout the universe, each happening to land on a human planet.

Some people believe that this was no accident and it is debated whether the Emperor or the Gods of Chaos planned this, both have their merits, and it is very possible that it was a mixture of chance and planning on both parts.

Some of the Primarchs were touched by Chaos at some point, two developing mutations like Sanguinius, and possibly Fulgrim (no-one is naturally that good looking). This is of course, unless the Emperor created his legendary children to be like this himself. However we do know that Magnus was touched by chaos, but not in an insidious way, they had a bit of a lovers tiff and Magnus subsequently lost his eye while battling the ancient god (or a Daemon Prince representing) Tzeentch. This battle was fought in the Warp where Magnus was using his “aetheric body of light” the wound although inflicted on his will and spirit translated to the real world and his eye had disappeared, with no evidence that one was ever there.

Over the following articles, I am going to take in in-depth (slightly tongue in cheek) look at the Primarchs and how their legions have coped since the Horus Heresy.

But firstly, let’s take a look at their dad. We know very little about him and there are a few good articles on Bell of Lost Souls taking an in depth and theological look at the Emperor and are very thought provoking, I hope my articles are of similar ideals. However, if you are a follower of the Lectitio Divinitatus please look away, this article and the articles to follow contain many heresies and blasphemies towards the Emperor.

The Emperor, he has been around for a while, and has a potent psychic aura. This aura actually stops many people being able to look upon him because of his “divine” beauty. 

The Emperor crusaded around Earth (also known as Terra) and extinguished the preachers and most devout followers of every religion on the planet. He believed that religion was the cause of separation between humanity and his goal to unit them under atheism could be said to have proven that it is, however, he also had a large army of Thunder Warriors. These Thunder Warriors were an early precursor to the Space Marines, and they were feared by all the Emperors enemies, these are a more likely factor for Terra to follow his rule, than because religion causes division.

After conquering the planet the Emperor turned his eyes to the stars and his first stop was Mars, where he took the form of the “Omnissiah” which is the Mechanicums idea of machine perfection. Here the Emperor had his fleets built and prepared the legions or Space Marines for the Great Crusade, each Legion was like the Emperors grandchildren, each built using a similar but simplified version of the Primarch project. The Space Marines were ordinary people who were “mutated” by and implant called the “Gene Seed” this was created from the DNA of their respective Primarch.

During/After the Horus Heresy, the Emperor has had very little impact on the Imperium, this is most likely because he is dead and his corpse and people suspect his soul is being sustained by the Golden Throne which requires thousands of Psyker sacrifices to keep it running. The biggest impact that the Emperor has had in the last ten thousand years is that the Lectitio Divinitatus is now renamed the Ecclesiarchy and is actually the leading religion among the populace of the galaxy. Without the Emperor to deny his divinity and peoples belief that he has ascended and now watches over the Imperium in spirit does not help stop the spread of the Imperial Religion.

It is quite ironic how the Emperor went on the Great Crusade to unite humanity under the Imperial Truth and they are now united under the Imperial Religion. We will look in depth about this later on the article for Horus and his downfall.

Next time, we shall look at the 1^st legion… The Dark Angels, and their Primarch Lion El’Johnson.

Road To Stockport Week 4!

Once again, its that time of the week, its the Road to Stockport, if you are wondering what happened to week 3, you didn't miss it, we were busy last week painting, so there was no game! This week, however, once again (due to people being off and other gaming systems) Logans Great(ish) Company faced off against the Tyranids of Hivefleet Tattybojangles. Enjoy! (PS. I appologise that the pictures are out of sequence, we didnt think to take any until turn 4, it got really interesting at that point!)

The Drop pod Rattled around Logan as it screeched towards the Drop Zone, they would be going in hot today. The pod smashed into the ground just in bolter range just as planned, Squad Vulkan was already setting up firing arcs aiming at the centre of the large horde of Tyranids heading towards them. Logan could see in the distance Sven’s Long fangs were already set up with clear fields of fire in all directions and closely supported by Lykan’s Grey hunter squad. A grin crept across his lips bearing his large fangs as he saw the contrails of 6 missiles spear into the Warrior squad blowing one of the creatures apart and ripping chunks out of the largest. The assault cannon of Squad Vulkan was the next to open up, the high calibre bolts tearing chunks out of the remaining warriors. Then the hive mind kicked in and the horde began to move towards the Wolves positions, Logan could see one of the larger creatures churning out more and more gaunts and expected a bloody fight. Their guns opened up and through sheer weight of fire managed to wound one of the mighty terminator clad marines, but it was of little consequence, the Space Wolves were about to get to grips with the enemy, where they worked best.

Logan saw the drop pod for Squad Leonis crash down further forward disgorging his Grey hunters on the far flank ready to burn the foul xeno off the planet. The missiles of the Long fangs opened up again shredding the last of the Warriors, only leaving the largest looking bloodied and bruised from the barrage. The Terminators lumbered forward under Logan’s command and he heard the Assault cannon whine as it powered up and began hurling more explosive shells at the large creature that was disgorging the gaunts. The Grey hunters also opened up on the Tervigon but despite the barrage of fire it remained standing though a few of the gaunts in the path of Squad Leonis’ flamer were not so lucky. Squad Lycus had appeared behind the horde as he was best at doing and charged into the rear of the enemy, but the Hive mind had been prepared for this and quickly tore the scouts apart leaving the remnants to flee bloodied possibly beyond help. The terminators were not quick enough and the gaunts protecting the larger Tervigon poured into them ripping with claws and teeth, but the stoic heroes stood firm and began to beat back the flooding horde. Logan felt the ground shake and heard a great crash and as he turned he saw one of the dreaded Trygons smashing out of the ground in front of the Long fangs forcing them to fall back as their equipment failed from the electromagnetic discharge the creature released. Then the horrid sickening feeling began again and Logan’s hackles began to rise, he knew what was coming, it was the dreaded doom, no matter how many times they killed it, it kept coming back. He watched as it smashed into the ground and immediately began leeching the life out of Squad Leonis killing 5 of his men before they even knew what was happening, one of Logan’s terminators also fell to the psychic assault. Leonis reaped a horrid toll in combat taking revenge for his squad by killing almost every gaunt that charged in against his remaining men.

Logan saw Squad Lykan jump out of their Rhino in defence of Sven’s retreat and bravely poured plasma and bolter fire into the giant Trygon, but it was little use and merely distracted the beast from its prey. Logan wanted revenge against the dreaded Doom and sent his personal squad to assist Vulkan against the pressing horde while he himself charged towards the floating brain. Even as the Doom absorbed more souls from Squad Leonis, leaving the sergeant alone to face the coming horde Logan smashed his great Axe into the creatures’ cranium splitting its carapaced skull and brain apart, hopefully ending its life of terror for good. Squad Vulkan backed up by the remaining terminator of Logan’s squad managed to beat the swarm of gaunts and finish off the giant warrior before it could cause any harm. Victorious the terminators regrouped and fell back towards the pods to bring their heavy weapons to bare and create a solid wall of ceramite as they were the remaining few after the Trygon ripped Lycus and his squad apart.

This was it, the last stop they needed to make before reaching Stockport, and they just had to hold out here. Logan was no coward though and charged towards the Tervigon that had caused so many problems, he took shot after shot and his armour was beginning to fail blood began trickling down through the cracks but on he continued under the supporting cover of the remaining terminators of Squad Vulkan and the remaining razorback, while his own remaining bodyguard faced down against the Trygon and the left flank of the Tyranid assault on his own.

Logan Smashed into the Tervigon crushing its legs under the might of his blows causing it to crash to the ground before bringing his great axe down to cleave the creatures head apart in a furious flurry of blows. He stepped back and bellowed a howl like no other before, then the horde opened up and the living ammunition found the cracks in his armour worming into his wounds causing Logan to falter at the last moment. Vulkan managed to remain standing once again keeping his master safe, Logan would have to promote this heroic figure a promotion soon, he had deserved it time after time. The Tyranids began rampaging through the Space Wolf vehicles as the remaining men fell back, Logan’s lone bodyguard stood firm but the weight of fire took him down eventually, his duty done in delaying the horde for his master he fell to the ground proud in himself.

Road To Stockport: Week 2

(Last night was an interesting 3 player game involving the Space Wolves of Logan’s Great(ish) Company, the Tyranids of Hivefleet Tattybojangles, and the Guardsmen of Manutia)

As Logan and the Commander of the Guardsmen discussed the plan to destroy the Tyranid hive, a lone Alpha warrior strode forward leaving its pack behind.
Logan pointed to the Alpha Warrior “See how the Xeno scum believes itself better than us, it doesn’t even deem speech worthy of itself.” He appealed to the Commander.
The Guardsman turned to his squad and began whispering among themselves “I think you are right, but maybe we can discuss a truce so that no-body gets hurt!” he said to the two other commanders.
“That sounds reasonable” replied Logan, “Oi, Bug, I suggest you return to your ships or face the consequences.” The Alpha Warrior just stood there.
“That isn’t what I meant by a truce!” shouted the Guard Commander.
“You are willing to consort with Xeno, you disgust me!” bellowed Logan.
“I wonder what wolf meat tastes like?” were the only thoughts going through the Alpha warriors head.
That’s when the hive started to move, the group of Warriors in the near distance moved quickly to join the feast with their leader and the other creatures surged towards the Imperials. The Guardsmen had little time to react and their Commander was too stunned to move. The Wolves were a little quicker and got both squads of Terminators on the ground immediately, while a Lone Razorback surged forward eager to get the fangs of its heavy bolter into battle. The Long Fangs, securely in Position opened fire on the Imperial Valkyries believing them to be consorting with the Xenos but in the confusion the missiles went wide and missed with every one. Logan found his Retinue and regrouped with them after they launched a volley of bolter fire into the Guardsmen.

Then all hell broke loose. The Tyranids avoided the newly arrived Terminators and rushed towards the Vehicles of the Guard, but failed to do any lasting damage, leaving them open to a counter attack. The Guardsmen opened fire on the Tyranids but inflicted little damage to the large horde, the massed confusion left their ordered guns firing wildly. The Space Wolves got their Discipline back immediately and the Last Drop Pod Smashed into the Ground amidst the Tyranids, pouring Squad Leonis out into the wastes, they wasted no time and opened fire on the Alpha Warrior and his Brood, Terminator Squad Vulkan poured their own fire from the deadly assault cannon into the fray as well, killing off a couple of the Warriors, while the Long Fangs kept their Focus on the Valkyries.

Squad Leonis charged into the Alpha warrior hoping to bring it down with their weight of numbers, while the Terminators of Squad Vulkan secured the chapel with the help of Logans personal retinue. The Long fangs finally took off the weapons of one of the Valkyries. Leonis was able to kill off all the remaining Warriors but failed to wound the Alpha at all, leaving them open to a counter assault from a large swarm of gaunts, which hit them hard and despite a hard effort the Grey Hunters fell. The Alpha warrior took lead of the gaunts and headed towards the chapel under a hail of Lasfire from the Guardsmen. The Ogryns charged fearlessly into a looming trygon, wanting to prove they were worthy servants of the Emperor and through their ferocity almost felled the giant beast before they were cut down leaving the Commisar to face off against a monster three times the size of him.

Then the air screeched as if in pain, Logan Knew the sound, he saw the fleshy pod head straight for the chapel and as it burst open the horrific form of a lone Zoanthrope floated out. He knew that it was no ordinary Tyranid from the way his hackles raised, it was the Doom of Malan’tai. The first waves of Nausia washed over him and his squad and he could see Squad Vulkan suffered the same, he watched as the souls of his warriors were sucked into the creatures body and their lifeless forms crumpled to the ground, he could feel his own will being sucked away. He saw Squad Lykan jump from their Rhino and burn a large number of gaunts to a crisp before charging into the Alpha Warrior determined to avenge their fellow Grey Hunters. Then everything went black, once again, he would have to get used to this. Sergeant Vulkan was the only Terminator to survive defending the Chapel and told Logan how the Guard Squad had blown away the Mycetic Sport before the Long Fangs ripped the Doom apart before it could absorb the last of his soul.

The Guardsmen were not so lucky, the Trygon ripped into the Commisar and moved towards the Hovering Valkyries, and ripped one apart with its razor sharp claws, while the dreaded Zoanthropes used their great minds to blow another apart by sheer force of will. The Long Fangs were not kind towards their would be allies and destroyed one of the Chimeras while the Razorback blew apart a second Valkyrie from behind. Lycus had spent a while getting into position behind the Hive’s base spawning pool and charged straight into the largest creature they could find, which was a hulking Tervigon, Lycus entered a feral rage ripping shreds from the creatures armour and the Melta gun found these weak spots causing untold damage, while the other Scouts darted in and out stabbing and slashing at the large creature, it could not withstand the assault and a final drive into the creatures skull saw it die, but had also sealed the squads fate. The Rest of the Hive felt the loss of one of their birthing creatures and turned towards Lycus and opened fire, killing 3 of the squad, only the Melta gunner remained standing, and protected Lycus like a wolf protects its cub. The Space Wolves held the chapel securely with Vulkan stood sentinel while Lykan moved his squad in support, they had also managed to destroy the Tyranid Spawning pool, but would not be able to hold the area while the Scouts retreated back into the shadows, but it was at a cost and the Imperial guard base had been devoured by the Tyranids. The guardsmen put up a hard fight and destroyed the weakened Trygon with a single well placed Melta Shot, blowing its head apart in a shower of roasted gore.

The Imperials held the Chapel and it would be a long clean up to rid the infestation of Tyranids. The Misunderstanding between the Guardsmen and the Space Wolves was settled and they worked together to remove the foul Xeno from the planet.

The Road to Stockport

I am going to start doing a kind of Battle Report, but putting the battles into stories to set them apart from any other Battle Reports on this site. Here is the first part, where my newly built Space Wolves are facing off against Angrymans Tyranids. It is a 1500pt game in preparation for our Stockport Tournament (hence the title)

As Logans pod Burst open he looked around and could see that the Grey hunters had taken up effective positions one Rhino was speeding towards his own position to help him destroy the foul Tyranid Spawning pool while another rumbled slowly forward keeping some xeno warriors within its sight and a clear path towards their own rally point. He turned and looked to see if his Long fangs were in position, but there were nowhere to be seen.
“Sven, report your position!” he rumbled into the comm-link.
“We are having problems, the rubble is denser than first thought, ETA. 3 minutes.” Came the reply

Logan looked back onto the battlefield and spotted a foul Tervigon heading towards his squad, without cover and backup he could get easily overpowered by its firepower, and there had to be more nearby. He started towards the solid plascrete wall of a building with his Wolf Guard in tow, but he wasn’t quick enough and he saw the rest of the horde appear from the rubble. They were in range and he could see the guns spasm as they prepared to fire. It was too soon, they hadn’t expected this. The entire horde opened fire on his position and he managed to throw himself behind some rubble, taking only a glancing hit, his squad wasn’t so luck and three of the Wolf Guard fell their armour no protection against the living and thinking ammunition of the foul xenos.
As he assessed the situation he heard an increasing roar from above him, he recognised it as another Drop Pod, and heading for his position and he grinned showing his long fangs.

“Lycus, in position ready to pounce.” Came a soft voice over the comm-link.
The Scouts had flanked the Tyranids, the plan was beginning to play out as he had hoped. The pack were converging and about to strike from all sides, just like a pack of wolves hunts is prey back on Fenris.
“Prepare to pounce when Brother Torvald lands. Strike in unison.” He roared back, the xeno knew he was there and they couldn’t understand human speech and even if they could it was unlikely they knew the native Fenrisian tongue.
Just as the pod crashed into the ground mere metres away from Logan a Rhino drove recklessly through the wall next to him skidding to a halt as a Flamer wielding Grey Hunter hung out the side hatch. The trap was sprung and the Tyranids had walked right into it, he saw the other squad of Hunters pulling back slightly supported by a razorback keeping the Warriors in their sight.
“Sven, are you nearly ready the trap is already sprung.” Logan was becoming impatient they should be setup by now to support his assault.
“the stairs have collapsed, we are having to make the climb another way, ETA still 3 minutes.” Came the frustrated voice from the Long Fang Sergeant.

He turned back and looked to his arriving brother, more hulking terminators strode out of the drop pod already pointing the massive assault cannon at a looming Carnifex while the scouts could be seen sneaking up from the enemy rear. Then the killing began. The Assault cannon opened up at the same time as the flamer from the Rhino. There was a hiss of superheated air as the melta in the scouts opened up at the carnifex at the same time. Gaunts screeched as they were roasted alive but the carnifex just shrugged off every bullet and even the melta shot only managed to score its carapace. Logan heard the sound of bolter fire coming from behind and saw a mighty Tyranid warrior fall to the Razorback and second Hunter Squads fire.

He went to jump from his cover but he had left it too long and his scouts were already charging in, slaughtering more gaunts and hoping to distract the Carnifex, then a Trygon roared and smashed the rhino apart with its guns before charging into the Grey hunters followed by the Tervigon they had first seen. Dispite the Scouts attempt to keep the Terminators free to bring their firepower to bear again they were swamped by gaunts. Dispite all this every warrior fought on bravely and died like a true Fenrisian. Logan was stunned into inaction by the ferocity of the xeno and even his own wolves although fighting like cornered beasts couldn’t match it. It was over in a matter of minutes, every last battle brother lay dead, except himself and his lone Wolf Guard. It had been his fault, his inaction had led to this, he saw the Long Fangs finally in position and begin to open fire, but it would be too late. He also watched as the second squad of Hunters fought bravely and killed off the warriors and gaunts heading to the rally point. Not that it was any use anymore, there was no-one to rally. The Trygon loomed above him and a third pod cam roaring down, but this one was living and contained the most horrific creature possible. It crashed next to the Grey hunter Sergeant and his Melta wielding squadmate, and ate their souls, just as a second Tervigon scuttled around the corner, he didn’t know which fate would have been worse, but he planned on doing something to repent for his inaction and charged headlong into the Trygon.

He heard missiles loose and caught a glimpse of the horrid creature that had spawned from the pod get blown apart then he saw the Trygon getting larger, it was much bigger than he thought, with a sweep of its tail it sent Logan flying into a wall under the Long Fangs, he heard bones snap, then he blacked out just as he saw the contrails of four missiles lash out and rip the Trygon apart. At least someone could claim glory this battle. He awoke in the apothecarion in a sombre mood, they had lost the world to the foul xenos, and it had been his inaction that had cost the lives of many battle brothers. It was going to be a long road to Stockport, if he survived that long.

Tune in Next week for the next installment, hopefully the Space Wolves wont die this time