Swarmlord Spotted! The Battle of Kolovan

[DogWelder]

Since a lot of Tyranid fans are interested in the Swarmlord as a character I thought I'd provide some additional lore about it that seems to have gone under the radar.

 

In M41, a splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Kraken attempted to breach Segmentum Solar by consuming the border worlds of Kolovan and Ryza and building a strong enough force to attack the Imperium's core worlds.

 

The Tyranids first struck Kolovan, killing nearly all of the human population on the planet and beginning to harvest it for resources. The forces on the ground were led by the Swarmlord and at least two Hive Tyrants.

 

The Ultramarines 3rd and 5th companies arrived on Kolovan, their aim to destroy the Tyranid Hive Fleet before it accumulated enough biomass to threaten a planet in Segmentum Solar.

 

During a defensive battle at a fortress by the 3rd company, the Ultramarines would discover that the Tyranids attacking them were personally being led by the Swarmlord. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ortan Cassius (the Reclusiarch of the Ultramarines), along with a squad of Tyranid War Veterans would use a system of tunnels to infiltrate the xenos horde and reach their leader undetected. After cutting through its accompanying Tyrant Guards and suffering heavy losses to the squad, Cassius managed to seemingly kill the Swarmlord once again.

 

Cassius and his replenished squad of Tyranid War Veterans would then board the Hive Ship to deliver a fatal toxin concocted by a Magos Biologis. Here, the Chaplain bore witness to the Swamlord being resurrected in one of its digestion pools. However, he did not engage it and continued with his mission to deliver the toxin. The poison made the Hive Ship degenerate and crash into the ocean, presumably killing the recently birthed Swarmlord as well.

 

With the Hive Ship dead and the other Hive Tyrants killed, the Hive Fleet was essentially destroyed and the Tyranids were prevented from reaching Segmentum Solar. The Ultramarines suffered 50% losses to both Companies and several Predator, Rhino and Vindicator tank losses.

 

However, since it is revealed that the Tyranids can keep birthing the Swarmlord continuously, it is very unlikely that this is the last it will be seen.

 

 

 

Source: Legends of the Space Marines: Cassius

Edited June 23, 2017 by Caius Tadius

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I'd like to know how Cassius took down the Swarmlord presumably by himself. That thing is a :cussing monster.

[DogWelder]

I'd like to know how Cassius took down the Swarmlord presumably by himself. That thing is a :cussing monster.

 

Basically the fight went like this:

The Swarmlord was actually winning at first but then it hit Cassius and his men with a psychic assault, hoping to end them quickly. However, Cassius had been trained by Tigirius to withstand psychic assault so he recovered quickly.

The Swarmlord thought he was dead though and turned away to deal with the other men. It did not therefore see Cassius running at it and smashing its face open with his powered crozius. The Swarmlord's head was then doused with fire from Cassius' combi-bolter's flamer and was forced onto its knees.

There Cassius' squadmates pumped its vital organs full of Hellfire rounds while the Chaplain repeatedly beat its head with his powered Crozius. This continued for a few minutes until the creature died.

[Filius]

I especially like the "This continued for a few minutes until the creature died" part.

I imagine that as a stage direction for a drama. In my head this is staged in my local theatre and I think of it as a really big Tyranid Costume or Puppet and some guys beating and shooting on it for minutes without any further conversation or developement of the events. Just beating and shooting. And me sitting in the audience room, grinning …