Militarum Tempestus Narrative Batrep - EX PEGASUS LANDING

[Ubique]

----Cypher: Sierra Sierra----

From: Inquisitor Alexander Fabian

To: Ordo Vigilius, Ordo Tempestus

----Terran Vigils Trials----

----Exercise PEGASUS LANDING----

 

Lords, news from our latest Trials. I will be the first to say that we have not succeeded during the recent Trials against the fabled Blood Angel Astartes. I personally take the blame for our failings as my hubris lay the groundwork for our defeat. The following will outline the course of the battle.

 

Order of Battle

 

Blue Force - Battlegroup Immutatus

Commander - Inquisitor Alexander Fabian (OM Inquisitor. Terminator Armour, Psycannon, Liber Heresius)

Inquisitorial Bodyguard - 6xAcolyte(Stormbolters, 2xMeltabombs), 1xMystic

 

 

Terran Vigils - Militarum Tempestus Company

2xMilitarum Tempestus Command Squads (3xHS Volleygun, 1xVox)

3xMilitarum Tempestus Scion Squad (2xPlasma Gun, 1xPlasma Pistol, Vox)

2xMilitarum Tempestus Scion Squad (2xMeltagun)

1xMilitarum Tempestus Scion Squad (2xFlamer)

 

Red Force - 3rd Company Blood Angels Astartes

Commander - Chaplain w Jump Pack

Bodyguard - 10x Death Company w Jump Pack

 

10xTactical Marines (Heavy Bolter) w Droppod

6xSternguard Marines w Razorback(Lascannon)

5xDevastator Marines (2x Missle Launchers, 2x Lascannons)

5xScout Marine Squad(5xSniper Rifles)

8xAssault Marines

1xAttack Bike (Heavy Bolter)

1xBaal Predator w Assault Cannon

 

Lords, while I am fully culpable in the defeat I believe my planning was solid and had I effectively executed things may have gone differently. Prior to battle, I had demanded my Mystic refer to the Emperor's Tarot; he assured me that our spaceborne reinforcements would arrive when and where I required and that he would be in constant communication with the Astropathic choir in orbit. We had also deployed our Servo-Skull beacons onto the battlefield to further aid the Scions' descent. Finally, I had brought my copy of the Liber Heresius with me; after studying it I hoped to move myself and my guards forward into some good cover in the centre of the battlefield. Sadly, this was my last and critical error.

 

Phase 1

The Astartes gained the initiative and there was my undoing. Out of the sky, a DropPod with a tactical squad broken in two crashed mere meters from my bodyguard. While they are a scraggly lot of cut-throats, they are good and loyal fighters but they had no chance against an Astartes squad blasting away at that distance. With my guard cut down, I realized the precarious nature of my situation, being all alone on the roof of a ruined hab-block. The Astartes realize this as well and pounded my position with all manner of Sniper rounds, Assault Cannon and Bolter Shells. My armour shrugged these off but I was undone by the Lascannon from the Razorback. My hubris in deploying so far forward caused the loss of myself and my men. For the remainder of the trial, I lay pinned in my position to watch as the Terran Vigils fought on.

 

Phase 2

In the absence of our forces on the battlefield, the Astartes seized many objectives during Phase 1 and Phase 2 but our turn to reply was finally at hand.

 

The Strike Cruiser Brutus Mortem could no longer communicate with me but still could operate off the pre-coordinated details of the battle plan. Securing the drop site, the 3 Scion squads with their Plasma weapons grav-chuted into combat; two squaring up with the Tactical squad and one seizing a ruined Ministorium building housing an objective with a view to engaging the Assault squad holding a nearby objective. These squads had landed as planned and seemed in an excellent position to contribute to the battle; all that they required were their leaders to land to provide much-needed suppressive fire and orders. Alas, the loss of myself and my Mystic had broken the link between Astropathic Choir aboard the Brutus Mortem and the ground forces. This resulted in neither the Command Squads nor the 3 support squads being able to reach the dropzone. Even still, the Plasma platoon of the Terran Vigils made good destroying half of the Tactical Squad including the Heavy Bolter as well as most of the Assault Marines. Laughter and random gunfire were heard coming from ruins that the sniper fire had came.

 

Phase 3

The Astartes continued their relentless advance but now had to deal with our troops digging into some excellent cover. The remaining half of the Tactical squad along with the Attack Bike were able to knock one of the Plasma squads down to one lone coward who ran for his life while the remainder of the Astartes ranged weapons focused on the lone Plasma squad which had earlier engaged the Assault Marines. The Tempestor of that squad, Patwayne, should receive a citation as his men withered a storm of Frag Missiles, Lascannons and Assault Cannon fire along with Bolt Pistols with only one casualty. Further, when the Assault Marines finally launched their headlong charge, his squad was able to put 2 more down leaving only 1 to engage them hand-to-hand. In the ensuing melee, Tempestor Patwayne defeated the Astartes in a duel of Chainswords to free his squad.

 

The Brutus Mortem finally made another pass of the dropzone and the 2 Command Squads and 3 support squads grav-chuted successfully onto the battlefield. One Command squad successfully landed in some excellent cover in a ruined hab block within vox range of the two remaining Plasma Squads while the other dropped a short distance from the Attack Bike. The Flamer squad landed slightly off target but close enough to give the Death Company Astartes a good taste of Promethium while one of the Melta squads landed nearly on the nose of the Baal Predator. For good and bad, the final Melta squad landed off target near the Drop pod, effectively putting them out of the fight at this stage. A vicious exchange of fire was put out at this point and I will not waste time with all the details but will highlight some. The Meltagun squad near the Predator was able to explode the beast with a single shot and, in the ensuing explosion, knocked out one of their own as well as 2 of the Death Company Astartes. On the negative side, the Command squad targeting the Attack Bike managed to only partially destroy the vehicle despite a fierce fusilade. At this point, the battle was evenly matched although our inability to challenge the Devastator Astartes and the Razorback was becoming critical.

 

Phase 4

The Astartes wasted no time taking advantage of our vulnerabilities after insertion. The Sternguard Veteran Astartes and their fabled bolters dismounted the Razorback and cut a swath out of the forward Command Squad while the Attack Bike and Devastators eliminated the Flamer Squad. The enraged Death Company Astartes prepared to assault the newly victorious Meltagun squad but, in their haste, gunned them down with Bolt Pistols. The Razorback fired its Lascannon onto the rooftop of the building which once housed the Scout Astartes and, moments later, a massive secondary explosion occurred.

 

The momentum swung to our side and our remaining Plasmagun and Command Squads opened a furious fire onto the Death Company Astartes and cut all of them down except for the fanatical Chaplain. From my position, pinned to the earth by training rounds, I could make out his skull mask and could see that he never even flinched, even when wounded himself, as his charges were put down by seering plasma and hellgun fire. The Meltagun squad which had missed their landing then charged into the Drop Pod, Meltas and Krag Grenades making much noise but little effect.

 

Phase 5

Reeling from the losses to his maneuver elements, the Chaplain took to the sky with his Jumppack to try to dislodge one of the Plasma squads. Simultaneously, the Sternguard and Devastators finished off the Command Squad which had failed to knock out the Attack Bike. By this point, our forces had been reduced to 1xCommand Squad, 2xweakened Plasma squads and 1xMelta squad. Even with this meagre force, however, more glory was earned when the Chaplain was cut down while charging the Plasma squad, collapsing at their feet.

 

Our forces continued to fight on, exhausted but under much less intense fire and in higher spirits now that the terrifying spectre of the Death Company had been removed. Our Plasma squad and Command Squad were able to knock out the Attack Bike and eliminate some of the Sterguard while Tempestor Patwayne moved forward with what remained of his troops. The Melta squad was able to finally knock out the Drop Pod with their Meltaguns and were wise enough to move away prior to doing so.

 

Phase 6

At this point, the stragglers of both sides exchanged light fire but with few casualties. The nature of the terrain blocked avenues of fire for the Devastators and Razorback and provided cover to our forces while our weapons were too short range to effect the enemy.

 

Summary

My vainglorious attempt to bring myself forward into the heart of the battle was the cause of this loss. While my planning was solid and our troops well equipped against their enemy, I needlessly risked my neck too early in the battle. Had this been a real fight and not training, the entire Scion force would have been reduced to half strength and the entire force been rendered leaderless. 

 

The Scions fought bravely and well with few exceptions. Our strategem to deploy all forces by Gravchute created a haphazard deployment but, again, would have been mitigated had I kept myself safe until the right moment. Tempestor Patwayne will be given priority for a Power Weapon if one should be made available and the lone coward who fled the Tactical Marines will be referred to Commisar Vokes for a disciplinary hearing. Otherwise, it will be light duties for a week for all Scions while I study the Liber Heresius.

 

Lords, I will tirelessly work to make good my failures. Sic Semper Liberatores.

 

The Emperor Protects

Inquisitor Alexander Fabian

Commander Battlegroup Immutatus

 

----Cypher: Tango Sierra----

From: Inquisitor Alexander Fabian

To: Ordo Vigilus

----Terran Vigils Trials----

----Performance of Agent Scurra----

 

Lords, the madman from the Eversor Temple that you have sent me did not perform as well as desired. Even prior to battle during the voyage to the training grounds, his maniacal laughter could be heard through the walls of his containment cell unnerving even the normally sanguine Scions. While I appreciate his (its?) lust for battle and skill at arms, he spent half of the Trial cackling and thrashing 5 Scout Astartes before glaring through a ruined window and being hit by the Astartes Razorback's Lascannon. Thank the Emperor that he only put sedative and not the usual cocktail of poison in that claw of his or the Blood Angels would have killed us all. Following the end of the battle, we found him and the 5 Scouts on the ground floor outside of the burning hab block; it seems he had jury rigged some sort of makeshift bomb and set it off after he dragged away the Marines. I'm not sure if this was a sign of his remaining humanity or if he was simply mocking me as all he did was laugh and say how he wanted even his simulated death to end with a bang...

[Pearson73]

Sounds like a good game, nice style of writing the report too.

[WarriorFish]

Combat armies can be tough for Scions as you need to get close to be effective but sounds like you didn't do too badly :)

[Ubique]

Thanks. Ya, it didn't go too badly. My mistake was sending the OM Inq and his crew too far forward outside of cover. The acolytes had LoS blocking terrain but that drop pod Tac squad landed in behind and made quick work of them leaving the Inq open to getting 1 shotted. The Eversor did its job and got stuck in but got too stuck in. It took 3 rounds of combat to defeat 5 Scouts which is bonkers and then he consolidated an inch leaving him perched up on the top of the ruin in a window...

 

Overall, the Maelstrom score was 11-10 for the BAs.

[duz_]

11-10 is pretty good

Did you modify the maelstrom in anyway?

Ie limit number of cards u could a turn d3=2?

So by the sounds of it for the eversor to take so long with scouts it was bad rolling?

I really want to field the callidus more personally

[Ubique]

I believe we played Deadlock or whatever the one is where you count down cards starting at 6 and reducing the max number of cards until its 1 by the end.

 

The eversor charged in no problem with his 3d6 charge range, and killed the Sgt and 2 others in round one with his powersword w furious charge. Round 2 he didn't land a single wound, hitting on 3+, wounding on 4+...Round 3 killed the remainder. I think once I had lost furious charge i should have switched to the Neurogauntlet to ensure i got the wounds as those scouts only have 4+ armour...

[duz_]

Yeh fair enough

I would have thought scouts would have been a fairly low target priority in most cases especially BA with bs/ws 3

No other high value targets on board T1 for him to attack instead?

[Ubique]

My thinking was moving the assassin up the flank with the least resistance to minimize the chance of getting tarpitted as well as gunned down by a lascannon. Had I killed those scouts in a reasonable time I could have bounded either to the death company or continued to use LoS blocking terrain to move into the rear with the Devastators/Razorback.

 

I guess commonly the Eversor goes for the throat (ie the most critical enemy unit) and dies spectacularly but given that I deepstrike everything directly into the fight, I think it might better be served moving through the flanks/rear of the enemy. I think it was more bad luck than anything that he got stuck in as long as he did and then consolidated as little as possible and then failed the 50/50 invul save. Sometimes things just don't go your way:(

[duz_]

Although I've only used assassins a couple of times on both occasions their squishiness was highlighted given they are only T4 w/ 4++ so can be easily ID'd

 

So best use of them is as you described go for the throat asap before they're taken out

[Ubique]

How effective have you found it against say, Ork Boyz, Space Marines, Eldar? Does the different toughness, strength, Initiative matter?

[Kontakt]

Personally, the Cullexus seems a better choice, for 2 big reasons. The first is that it can only be attacked or shot at at BS and WS 1, so he's much more survivable. The second is that his anti psyker bubble is far scarier to quite a few opponents.

[Emicus]

What an excellent battle report!

​As for the assassin, the Cullexus isn't just an anti-psyker ubble of death, and permanently invisible, but you cannot take armour saves versus his melee attacks. Yeah. Ap3 can go take a nap.