70 112.M42 – Moon of Mornnan [0405]
Fresh from the victory of Nickelbaum, the Dark Orator Darad intercepted Imperial transmissions of further inbound reinforcements to the sector. There was no reason that a clash of True Followers and the Khornate fanatics would have drawn them into the sector, he reasoned, so he would bring his devout following and suss out the force.
Through the warp travel, the C-ORG frigate was harried by an unknown force, forcing them to drop from warp space. In the resulting chaos, system scans began picking up a small force massing on a low-population moon of Mornnan. Sensing this was not their quarry, but still worth investigating, Darad summoned his trusted sorcerer Naram-Sin and a few of his loyal pets for a breakthrough mission.
Incursion: Behind Enemy Lines
Illuminated Word
Darad, Dark Apostle
Terminator Sorcerer
2×5 Chaos Space Marines
10x Cultists
5x Possessed
Greater Possessed
Heldrake
Venomcrawler
Tarion’s Warband
Exalted Champion
3×10 Chaos Space Marines
1×5 Chaos Space Marines
2×5 Havocs
3x Chaos Spawns
Under the cover of night, Darad’s warband moved forward, scouting out various buildings in the abandoned settlement and dropping trackers for potential reclamation of resources. In the blue twilight before dawn, the sounds of stomping ceramite boots, the gibbering of cultists, and the occasional angry hiss of the Venomcrawler as it stalked the ruins for prey echoed against the empty ruins. As they approached the city center and square, the whispers of the warp became a cacophony, alerting Darad to imminent danger.
Calling to everyone to take up defensive positions, he chanted the ruinous incantations and summoned an impenetrable cloak of darkness to shroud his movements. The cultists and heretical marines charged forward into cover behind a hasty barricade and bombed-out building while the Venomcrawler scrambled atop the building, launching a volley of coalesced daemonic energy into the building across the courtyard and exposing a warband of renegade Red Corsairs!
A salvo of rockets erupted from the rooftops and chased the Venomcrawler away before critical damage could be sustained. The rockets also served as the call to charge, as a red tide of heretical marines bounded from their hiding places, led by an Exalted Champion of Khorne. A pack of fleshy abominations burst forth from the sewers on their flank, no doubt disturbed by the thunderous charge of both sides. As they howled into the night, shambling forth with unnatural speed, the sky erupted in fire as a Heldrake descended upon them; burning, ripping, and tearing until their chaotic forms were even more unrecognizable than before.
The Corsairs weathered the hail of fire with ease, a steeled resolve as they charge behind their leader. They moved quickly across no-man’s land, darting around cover to charge into combat against their more devout bretheren. Their own returned fire and meltagun shots tore holes through the plastcrete and the marines taking cover behind them as more rockets fired from above, unable to engage the warpborne dragon that was engaging their allies.
As the heldrake finished tearing into the marines, more poured forth from the warp on the opposite flank, laying down fire as the heldrake continued it’s rampage towards the roof-stranded Havocs. Darad and his Possessed coven pressed up the field amidst the chaos, desperate to escape and find the cache these piratacal marines were hoarding in secret. Naram-Sin had faith in his dark power and enhanced armor, holding the backline against the seemingly ceaseless tide of Red Corsairs and Champion.
In the end, Darad was able to gather the resupply resources and embolden his own (perceived) tactical acumen, the Red Corsairs breaking under the weight of The Word.
VP: 38-34
Recap: No deaths on either side, Darad received Battle Trait: “Tactical Experience” as a victory reward.
The Khonsic System Crusade 