The Silent Sword Crusade - Resolve & Purpose

[TheOneTrueZon]

350 PL game this weekend. Two days of Apoc games, I will be taking lots of photos. Hopefully the game will be as good as last time.

[Hawklynn]

Good luck.

[Honda]

Very excited to hear you are playing Apoc. I'm really looking forward to hearing/seeing your batrep.

 

Cheers,

[TheOneTrueZon]

Preliminary List, 348 PL

 

++ Black Templars ++

 

+ HQ +

 

High Marshal Helbrecht

 

The Emperor's Champion

 

Chaplain in Terminator Armor

 

2x Lieutenant: Master-crafted boltgun, Power sword

 

+ Troops +

 

Crusader Squad

. 5x Initiate

. Initiate w/Heavy Weapon: Lascannon

. Initiate w/Special Weapon: Plasma gun

. Sword Brother: Boltgun, Power sword

 

Crusader Squad

. 5x Initiate w/Chainsword

. Initiate w/Heavy Weapon: Power sword

. Sword Brother: Boltgun, Power sword

 

Scout Squad: 5x Camo cloak

. Scout Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Sniper rifle

. 4x Scout w/Sniper Rifle: 4x Sniper rifle

 

+ Elites +

 

Chapter Champion: Champion's blade, Relic blade

 

Honour Guard

Honour Guard: Power axe

Honour Guard: Power axe

 

Contemptor Dreadnought: Combi-bolter, Dreadnought combat weapon, Kheres pattern assault cannon

 

Ironclad Dreadnought: Dreadnought chainfist, 2x Hunter-killer missile, Ironclad Assault Launchers, Meltagun

. Dreadnought combat weapon w/Heavy Flamer: Heavy flamer

 

Terminator Assault Squad

Terminator Sergeant w/Storm shield, Thunder hammer

4x Terminator w/THSS: 4x Storm shield, 4x Thunder hammer

2x Terminator w/x2LC: 2x Lightning Claw (Pair)

 

Vanguard Veteran Squad: Jump Pack

Veteran Sergeant: Relic blade, Storm shield

2x Space Marine Veteran: Storm shield, Thunder hammer

2x Space Marine Veteran: Power axe, Storm shield

5x Space Marine Veteran: Bolt Pistol & Chainsword

 

2x Venerable Dreadnought: Twin lascannon & Dreadnought combat weapon w/Storm Bolter: Storm bolter

 

+ Fast Attack +

 

3x Land Speeder: Multi-melta, Typhoon missile launcher

 

+ Heavy Support +

 

Relic Leviathan Dreadnought: 2x Heavy flamer, Storm cannon array & Leviathan siege claw: Meltagun

 

2x Land Raider Crusader: Hunter-killer missile, 2x Hurricane bolter, Multi-melta, Twin assault cannon

 

3x Predator Annihilator

 

3x Vindicator

 

3x Whirlwind

 

+ Flyer +

 

Stormraven Gunship: Twin lascannon, Twin multi-melta, Two Hurricane Bolters, Two Stormstrike Missile Launchers

 

2x Stormtalon Gunship: Twin assault cannon, Typhoon missile launcher

 

++ Sisters of Battle ++

 

Celestine w/ 2x Geminae Superia

 

Seraphim Squad

6x Seraphim

Seraphim Superior: Plasma pistol, Power sword

Seraphim w/ Special Weapons: 2x Inferno Pistols

 

++ Inquisition ++

 

Inquisitor Greyfax

 

Jokaero Weaponsmith: Digital Weapons

 

++ Imperial Knight ++

 

Knight Crusader: Avenger gatling cannon, Heavy flamer, Heavy stubber, Twin Icarus autocannon

. Rapid-fire battle cannon w/ heavy stubber

Edited February 15, 2018 by TheOneTrueZon

[Honda]

Looks like a pretty solid list with plenty of options and cool things to move around. for the Leviathan. 

 

A couple of observations:

 

1. No drop pods for your dreads? Or will one of them be carried by the SR?

2. My second thought was you seem a little light on "boots on the ground". Something to keep in mind, supporting units are great for enforcing your will, but it's the grunts that take and hold objectives.

 

Depending on which victory conditions you settle on, your current list would lose Obsec after 15 guys die (2 x 5 man crusaders, 1 x 5 man Scouts).

 

Regardless, it looks like a fun time.

 

What will your opponent be?

[TheOneTrueZon]

No idea what I'm up against. Last time everything on the other side of the board was either Chaos Marine of various flavors or Demons. Who knows, I could get paired against literally anything. However your point on Obsec has been taken well to heart and I am probably going to ditch the honor guard (because if you have Celestine as your personal bodyguard, two power axes just pales in comparison) and add another gun line Crusader squad.

 

No drop pods for the dreads, but the Ironclad will certainly be on the Stormraven. 

 

Since I don't have to worry about templates, I'm going for a full-on deathstar with Helbrecht at the center, flanked by two LRCs and the rest of the armor distributed to lay down support fire and deep strike denial. 

[TheOneTrueZon]

I'll have a more detailed batrep later this week, but this about sums it up...

 

Saturday: Black Templars & Co. vs Demon Soup = Good lord I blew so much frakk'in stuff it was glorious. 

Sunday: Black Templars & Co. vs Alpha Legion = How I learned to hate Falchions (read: I brought Hurricane Bolters to a Volcano cannon fight)

 

Good fun, educational, but my list was fun to play but is no where near as expansive as some other people who like to play Apoc level games with any regularity. 

[Honda]

How I learned to hate Falchions

 

 

Yes, I have that T-shirt too. Very ugly to deal with if you aren't expecting it.

[TheOneTrueZon]

++APOCALYPSE BATREP++

 

DAY 1 vs Chaos Soup

Objective: Control the Skull

 

 

This is the "loaner army" section. There is much work to be done today.

 

 

The Lineup.

 

 

My merry band of Crusaders and friends. Everything along the table edge is in deep strike or a vehicle.

 

 

Let the games begin!

 

 

Red rover, red rover, let two Helldrakes come over! These were downed by weight of lascannon fire before they could do anything. It was quite fun to unleash an Orbital Strike stratagem on a Baneblade surrounded by various armor and infantry.

 

 

Daemons, Chaos IG and other various elements try to make it across the board. Raptors deep strike.

 

 

A last alliance of Orc & Tau take on Thousand Sons w/ Magnus next door, they manage to take big red down turn one with a reee-dic-ulous amount of dice.

 

 

Tau to the left of me, Angels to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with Chaos!

 

 

Vanguard Veterans deep striking to guard the flanks. CC Crusaders charge forward.

 

 

Bloodthirster tries to take on Celestine. Guess who won? Overall this was a really fun game to play, the only real downside was that my opponent was 14 and had to look up pretty much every stat he needed, not that I can fault him, he did really well given everything he threw at me.

 

DAY 2 vs Alpha Legion

Objective: Annihilation

 

 

I'm facing a Falchion, 3x LR Proteus with Lascannons, 1x LR, 2x Sicarans, 1x Sicaran Venator, 1x Sicaran Punshier, 1x Sicaran Plasma Obliterator, 3x sorcerers, and 30k legion-style Heavy Missile & Plamsa squads run as Devastators and tacticals.

 

 

My armor is to the left, fast movers, deep strikers and some dreads are all to the right to flank and pressure his backline. I manage to take the Plasma Obliterator out before it gets a shot off and significantly reduce the Punisher.

 

 

Alpha Legion plasma devs unload from a Proteus and try to do as much damage before they die.

 

 

Sorcerer casts prescience on the Falchion and it levels my Knight in one shot.

 

 

I decide to run everything up as close to his line before the Falchion blows it up and do as much damage as possible. One Proteus explodes, taking a few tacticals with it.

 

 

The rest of his armor destroys anything left standing which is in range, all of my troops make it out of the LRs and make for a final charge, hoping to maybe get close enough to the Falchion to spit on it. 

 

 

Celestine takes out most of the Terminators in the backfield but dies at the hands of a Praetor with some kind of murder blade. Top of the next turn she resurrects on the other side of the field to press the advance against the tacticals who are barely keeping my remaining Vanguard Vets and Terminators from rushing his flank and possibly doing some real damage to his armor.

 

 

That's one lonely Whirlwind. Still taking pot shots at that mothertrucking Falchion.

 

This is about where we left off. Helbrecht and the EC finish of the last of the Legion troops in front of them before we call it for time. This was truly a war of attrition. I could have possibly tried to deep strike more aggressively and placed my scouts on the building to try and take out the sorcerers who were casting prescience on the tanks. Anywho, fun stuff, but that Falchion is a nightmare to be on the business end of that volcano cannon.

[TheOneTrueZon]

++Tides++

 

The only two humans not tasked to the daily regimen of Astarte routine and life aboard a star faring vessel sat in conversation in the central chambers of the Aegis Deus, the domicile of the ship’s navigator, Bressón Benetek. Outside the chambers the initiate shadowing Inquisitor Valdena’s every move listened to their conversation via the internal vox.

“You are the lesser son of greater fathers.”

“Ouch,” Inquisitor Valdena said with a pained grimace, “THAT was your mother’s parting words to you?”
“The lead up was more colorful, but yes, that was the last thing she said.”

Valdena always had a rough time getting a read on the navigator. Constantly avoiding eye contact certainly didn’t help. His warp eye was always behind a thick headscarf, yet the fear of having your soul instantaneously sucked out of your body into nothingness wasn’t a danger she took lightly. Such as it was when first entering the central chambers of the navigator for the Aegis Deus. His warning was simple, sincere, but rehearsed, something repeated to anyone that entered ignorant of his powers.

“To look upon my third eye is death, that is all,” he would say. Bressón of House Benetek was not a meek creature, standing seven feet tall to almost the height of an Astarte, with a slim build of a lifetime in low gravity gave him a look of a haunting spectre. He wore layers of functional and ornamental robes in the company of others to give his appearance more mass, and it served him well. Other navigators that the Inquisitor encountered had been frail in the truest sense, some bound within chambers of viscous fluids which prevented them from being crushed by the inertial forces of void travel. Others simply seemed to grow into their navigation thrones, and for those who strayed too close to the warp - that could become something much more literal.

 

Bressón expressed emotion on a glacial pace. His impossibly smooth amber features denied any semblance of age. But always there was a wisdom to anything he said, when saying anything it all. Valdena had taken to spending time in with the navigator over the months of sequestration aboard the Aegis Deus. The routine of her day had become more monotonous than ever since arriving in orbit. The majority of the Initiates and Neophytes were planetside getting the chapter keep in order, leaving her no one to educate in the practices of witch hunting. So they talked, and talked at great length, being some of the only humans on board who didn’t bekon to the constant work as prescribed by Astarte regimen.

“That is why I am here, Inquisitor, on this ship, assigned to this role.”

“As punishment, you mean.”

He shrugged, holding his palms upward, “Others fare worse, my house still holds favor with the Paternova.”

“But still, just because you refused to marry they cast you out, just like that.”

“Just like that. To refuse marriage is seen as an act of sedition against the propagation of our house.”

“You got something against your own kind?”

“No, just the one that was being offered up as my bride to be.”
“Ooooohhhhhh,” Valdena trailed off as her mind made many connections on various other facts that Bressón had floated around their conversations.

“The downside of the Navigator gene is the dependence on both parents having the gene, leading bloodlines toward alliances, and over time the results has led to… suboptimal genetics among certain branches of the Nobilite.”

“So she was ugly.”

Bressón gave the Inquisitor a scornful glare, “Hardly that, but she had the personality of a ammo loader servitor.”

Valdena laughed, “Well I guess it’s good to have standards, otherwise I’d be less one equal mind up here in this metal coffin.”

“There is nothing more dangerous than a bored Inquisitor,” Bressón liked to point that out as often as he could.

“Says the mutant on the Black Templar ship where they all think he’s going to send their next warp translation straight into the eye of terror,” Valdena retorted.

Brésson managed a slight smile, “Thank you for the reminder that my demise exists just outside the false safety of my chambers.”

A short static burst on Valdena’s vox line was a curt reminder that her shadow on the other side of the blast door was still listening.

 

Valdena had come to find a strange respect for Initiate Jerod. He had been assigned to her when the Crusade force made planetfall. At first she thought being assigned as her silent minder was a form of punishment while nearly everyone else headed into the wild. However she had come to learn that this was a highly regarded position for an Initiate.

“He’s single-handedly protecting the entirety of this crusade to take appropriate action should you become compromised,” Sword Brethren Marius said to her before going planetside. He stated it so casually that he might have been commenting on the weather.

Though she had never seen Jerod out of armor, or without a helm for that matter, the Templar was distinguished by the various heraldry upon his bespoke armor. Festooned would be a better word for it, but no matter, Initiate Jerod has earned the tabard and seals that adorned his mixed mark armor, that much was obvious to Valdena. Perhaps this was his last rite of passage before attaining the honor of “wearing the red”, as the these Templars call the elite rank of Sword Brethren.

 

In her private effects the inquisitor kept a chronometer that was attuned to the Terran solar cycle, but as soon after entering the system the time kept began to drift. She checked the calibration and even beseeched Techmarine Carrus to examine it, but was refused at the seeming triviality of fixing a watch. So to quill and parchment she went and started counting the local cycle. By her accounting it had been almost two months since the first sortie to the stronghold and five months of being in orbit before that. In that time Initiate Jerod had spoken no fewer than a handful of verbal warnings when the Inquisitor wandered too far on her ante-cycle jog around the Aegis Deus midship armor belts. He must have eaten while she slept, for he was never more than arm’s length away at any given time, for good reason.

 

+

 

Telemanria is a living chronometer. Among the Sisterhood, there are many who evolve extra perception without augmentation. Much like the blind or deaf, the shrift of having no warp presence often gives a Sister of Silence heightened sensitivity to her surroundings. The records of the order were well kept, magnitudes above the ministorum and even Terran archivists. Such is the particular benefit of an order comprised of Pariahs, no one ever came calling to them for records. And in those records there are accountings of the many Sisters who have shared the same gift as Telemanria. As such, with training and the path set from her forebears she knew that it had been exactly 23 local cycles since she had willingly walked into the lion den. Upon her besting their sword master, she was quickly ushered into a bare cell carved from the living rock of the mountain itself. A flat rocky outcrop had been fashioned into a slab bed of sorts, with a small recess in the opposite corner with a drainage port. It didn’t take much imagination what it was for. She was relieved of her sword, though it pained her greatly to be apart from it she decided that if anyone would treat it with respect it would be these Astarte. Indeed the Initiate who took it from her held the sword with two open hands, the barest of nods to her as she did it without hesitation or reluctance.

“Your armor may remain with you, until the Marshall sees fit to determine your fate,” another obsidian giant said to her before leaving all too quickly.

 

The granite walls were rugged and high, almost twice her height. More than enough to accomodate an Astarte if needed. She was almost flattered they thought her dangerous enough to put her in a cell strong enough to hold one of their own. Perhaps it was the only kind of cell they had. It was going to be a long wait, that much she knew to be sure. She removed her plate armor and laid appropriately on the stone floor aside the slab bed, laying her thick cloak upon the slab as a makeshift bed. She sat cross-legged in the center of the room, forearms upon the knees, palms up, and meditated.

 

Exactly one local cycle later, much to her surprise, an un-armored Initiate entered. He wore the standard black body glove beneath a crisp tabard bearing the black cross of his order. In his left hand he held a golden aquila attached to a silver chain that wrapped around his wrist. He held it tightly, his gaze never straying from her as she met his eyes. The discomfort was there, but Astarte were more or less numbed to the aura of a Pariah, but as an Excruciatus her aura was more potent than most. Projecting her aura was a skill she honed into a debilitating weapon. Her outward appearance would never give such a reaction, yet unaugmented humans were brought to their knees, vomiting in revulsion at the mere sight of her if she required.

“I am Initiate Ulrich. Our Marshall has decided that we are to acclimate ourselves to your presence. I am to remain here until relieved. You may be interrogated, and if so you will answer simply in battle mark only.”

She closed her eyes, and nodded. Ulrich said nothing further, and as her aura projected, the sound of his grip tightening on the aquilla was the only thing that betrayed him.

 

Many cycles pass, as do the Initiates. Some in full armor, others in nothing but a tabard. None of them talk other than offering name and rank before standing before the door to go through the required “acclimation”. Then her opponent from the gates arrived. Sword Brother Karos entered at the dawn of a new cycle, he brought a ration of nutrient paste and instant bread and slid it across the floor to Telemanria. She did not eat in the presence of the Initiates, and placed the tray to the side of her bed slab.

Karos took a moment before speaking. He did not introduce himself as he already had done so at the gates.

“Where did you train, Excruciatus?”, his tone was measured and calm, but straight to the point.

She betrayed no expression in her reaction but she was moved that someone had actually addressed her by formal rank. She decided to be forthright with him.

::Terra::

“Who trained you.”

::Custodes::

Karos paused a moment to consider her response. Her skill was no longer a question to him.

“Why are you here.”

::Answers::

What she signed must have satisfied his curiosity, for he then took the same repose as she, sat cross legged, forearms on his knees, palms up, and quietly chanted benedictions of the Emperor as Telemanria focused her will upon him entirely. Her projection would be felt by everyone within 20 meters of her. Karos did not waver.

 

Time ebbed and flowed in the universe as a great meandering river. It has density, swells and tides of an endless ocean. The tides were thick here now, no one in this system knew it yet, but they were all subject to a time dilation. While this Crusade had perceived to have spent a few months in the Hephaestion system, that perception was wrong. The opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum left a wake of distortion rippling across every system along its perimeter. It wouldn’t be long before the Marshall would come calling for answers once the inevitable realization came upon them.

[Brother Christopher]

What a nice day I've had on the Internet today thanks to you. First some eye-candy, since I haven't seen the amazing photos from the enormous game earlier, when you posted them, followed by an enjoyable piece of 40K fiction.

[TheOneTrueZon]

++Inquisitor Arin Solara Valdena of the Ordo Hereticus++

 

 

 

 

 

[Hawklynn]

Is the inset design on the cape actually part of it or did you cut those in?

[TheOneTrueZon]

Is the inset design on the cape actually part of it or did you cut those in?

 

Inset design that's on the stock Greyfax model

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done.

[TheOneTrueZon]

I just saw this on Etsy:

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/541703190/imperial-mech-combat-arm-sets

 

 

That's pretty much an insta-buy, think I might use these as alternates for my Cerastus Castigator sword arm. 

 

EDIT: added link

Edited April 11, 2018 by TheOneTrueZon

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Personally, I'd mount the giant chainaxe blade like a bayonet at the end of a rapid fire battle cannon, so the Knight will be capable of both ranged and close combat.

 

What will you name the Knight variant? The Executioner or Executor? Thread-cutter, as he "cuts the thread of fate" of his enemies? Doombringer? Slaughterer?

[Hawklynn]

George. You should name it George.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I will love him and squeeze him and call him George.

[TheOneTrueZon]

Personally, I'd mount the giant chainaxe blade like a bayonet at the end of a rapid fire battle cannon, so the Knight will be capable of both ranged and close combat.

 

What will you name the Knight variant? The Executioner or Executor? Thread-cutter, as he "cuts the thread of fate" of his enemies? Doombringer? Slaughterer?

 

I'm actually going to be using the chainblade from the stock kit as a bayonet on a handheld version of the thermal cannon that will be compatible with my current IK frame's alternate arms. I think the axe on the Cerastus knight that I'm prepping will be perfect as I have it in a very aggressive running stance.

 

 

I will love him and squeeze him and call him George.

 

I think King George has a nice ring to it.

Edited April 11, 2018 by TheOneTrueZon

[Hawklynn]

 

I will love him and squeeze him and call him George.

 

I think King George has a nice ring to it.

 

He is gonna need a crown. A small crown.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

A golden skull mask will be more appropriate.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

May I suggest "King of Death's Realm" as a nickname?

[Sword Brother Adelard]

What about the Germanic form of George? Jurgen?

[Hawklynn]

"Ich werde ihn lieben und ihn quetschen und ihn Jurgen nennen."