29 July, 2022

Kratus led this force, backed by Validon and his seven Berzerkers, and Xarian the Bloody Idiot. I chose the Eye of the Gods Agenda again for a little more Personal Glory.

Following directly on from the previous battle, the Custodes of the Golden Eagle rallied to chase down the Cruentes. Not wanting to run from a fight, the World Eaters turned to engage.

Seizing the initiative (aka, losing the roll-off and my opponent wanting me to get closer), Validon's Berzerkers rapidly advanced on the right while Xarian and the slower Kratus moved to get a firing position on the left.

Shooting was unfortunate, with Xarian's plasma cannon again failing to do anything, molten matter simply deflecting off the enemy armour.

In return, the predictable happened: the Custodian shooting cut down all but one Berzerker - the Icon Bearer - who then attempted to charge the Sister Knight Centura...completely forgetting that she has a relic flamer that automatically scores 6 hits. Hitting this wall of flame, that nameless Berzerker screamed his anger to the last moment as he was turned to ash.

I forgot to keep taking photos (it was getting late - yeah, let's blame that), but the rest of the battle was quick. On the left, Xarian continued to be unable to penetrate the auramite plating of the Custodes, while Kratus once again tanked a lot of enemy shooting. Xarian was eventually dropped through sheer firepower (though I think I may have been forgetting the -1 damage he gets now), while Kratus was wounded by some cheeky Venatari, who used their jump packs to get around his big bodyguard.

In a final act of defiance, Kratus launched himself at the enemy, barely reaching the Centura. She was out of line of sight, so was unable to fire Overwatch, and Kratus made short work of her with his borrowed chainfist. Unfortunately, his charge forced him to also engage the Sagittarum Custodians, who used their misericordia to deliver their sentence to Kratus.

In a sickening light, Kratus diseappeared back into the warp before the final blow could land. He had achieved what he needed to allow the rest of his force to regroup, though he would swear his revenge against the False Emperor's chosen.

Result: 16-36 Loss

Kratus's Personal Glory: 4 -> 4
Khorne's Dark God Glory: 4 -> 4
Cruentes' Warfleet Glory: 7 -> 7

My Agenda gained me one Personal Glory point, and I rolled well for the rest of my Chaos Points, so none of the Glory trackers changed. 

Force Updates

Dreior's Hunters

Dreior's Berzerker squad levelled up, gaining the Bitter to the Bone trait. This will allow me to change their Wanton state at the start my Command phase, which might turn out very useful!

With my Warfleet being Favoured for the past two battles, I also increased his squad size to 8 and gave them three plasma pistols (to finally represent Dreior's defunct combi-plasma).

Murdrax's Butchers

Having succeeded in almost turning the tide of battle single-handedly, the Red Butchers also levelled up and gained the Ambition's Edge trait. Murdrax, emboldened by Kratus's own rise to prominence, has gained a wound, attack and point of Leadership.