Farseer Fairali recoiled in pain from his scrying glass, breaking the warpwatch. How had that devil seen him? It shouldn't be possible, but Typhus had turned and stared into his soul with a terrifying grin. The image was seared into his mind.
That was a mystery for another time. The Terminus Est was headed toward an abandoned Imperial military base on a planet of critical strategic importance, and Fairali would have to do everything in his power to prevent the forces of the archenemy from gaining a foothold there. He sent out a call to his kinsmen, but he feared they would not be enough. His lip curled in disgust. The time has come to call in the favor from that double-dealing mon-keigh...
...Tank Commander Jasonius didn't know why the Inquisitor had abruptly ordered his armored division to system HD168746 in the middle of time scheduled for repairs, but this by itself was not a particularly unusual state of affairs. What worried him was the order to rendezvous with the battleforce of some dozens of Astartes, and rabid warriors from the dreaded VI legion no less. What possible threat could cause his lordship to muster such a force on short notice? And what truly terrified him was the rumors circulating about High Command that they were may find themselves fighting along side Xenos...
It looked as if the opposing forces had approached to within reach of the abandoned planetary defense facility at just about the same time they had caught sight of one another. As the battlecruisers exchanged unfathomable volleys of destruction in orbit, the ground forces approached one another. Control of the macro-cannon and ancillary ground weaponry might just provide the decisive edge in the conflict...
Editor's note: Unfortunately, the skalds who usually record the Wolf Lord's exploits in great detail were all slain in the incredibly bloody battle. As such, details are scarce. The following report has been pieced together from scraps of recovered datacores.
Deployment (09:45)
The heavy elements of the imperial force -- tanks from the imperial guard, anchored by a Hellhammer, protected by rhino APCs full of space wolves and supplemented by Long Fangs carrying assorted long-range weaponry -- approached through the tight quarters of the abandoned city. The hardened tankers paled as they caught sight of the Aeldari snipers flitting through the shadows of the ruined buildings along side them. They uttered prayers and curses when the mysterious Eldar webway gate ripped through reality in front of them, crackling with foul sorcery.
But high overhead, they could see the exhaust plumes of astartes descending in jump packs and assault gunships -- a large chunk of the force would arrive shortly to reinforce them. And they were heartened.
A large number of vehicles from the Chaos force approached by ground. Rubric marines in rhino ACPs lead by Ahriman and daemon princes, escorted by fetid plague tanks, daemon engines, and a death guard Knight. With Terminus Est in orbit, the imperial commander feared that heretic terminators might be preparing to teleport in any any moment.
Space Wolves, Imperial Guard, and Ynnari Eldar 1 (10:45)
Astartes in Rhino APCs sped at full speed toward the fortifications, hoping to gain access and create an early advantage. Foolhardy thunderwolf cavalry and striking scorpions charged forward to distract the enemy force. The Long Fangs leveled their lascannons, missile launchers, and plasma cannons and began to fire at will. The rumble of armored vehicles quieted briefly as the Hellhammer and its escorts ground to a halt, then was replaced by a cacophony of deafening roars as they began blasting the enemy lines. In the shadows of a ruined tower, Aeldari snipers lead by Illic Nightspear fired silent death from their elegant rifles.
Death Guard and Thousand Sons 1 (11:30)
The heretic land raider and rhinos made a break for the fortifications, as the daemon engines and chaos knight approached the Imperial lines and opened fire. The wolf cavalry were destroyed, and the plasma cannon long fangs nearly joined them. A few striking scorpions were killed whilst running through no-man's land.
Allies 2 (12:45)
Hordes of space vikings leapt from their rhino APCs and ran for the fortifications, even as the installation's degraded machine spirit sparked to life and began targeting at random with the defensive cannons, killing some striking scorpions and damaging the land raider and one of the rhinos.
Dozens of mighty astartes descended to the field on their jump packs, and air units screamed overhead and opened up on the chaos lines. The bulk of the Ynnari death-cult emerged from the webway gate to fight along side the astartes. The snipers continued their withering fire.
The big guns once again opened up, destroying several Chaos vehicles including the Knight. Rubric marines and death guard terminators emerged from destroyed transports and ran for cover in the fortification.
Chaos 2 (14:15)
More random fire erupted from the fortifications automated system, damaging both forces. An enormous force of scarab occult sorceror-terminators warped down from orbit and engaged the Ynnari forces. A force of death guard terminators materialized behind the imperial lines, and some other reinforcements arrived as well, but Typhus had yet to make his entrance.
Shooting from the Chaos forces annihilated the astartes jump army that had landed forward of the imperial gunline.
The daemon princes leapt into the air and ripped the allied airplanes apart. As the stormwolf crashed, the storied Wulfen emerged from the wreckage and closed toward the heretic gunline, beating hammers against shields.
Allies 3 (17:00)
The space wolf infantry entered the fortification and began taking control of it. The wulfen charged into the archenemy armor and destroyed a plaugeburst crawler. The space wolf heroes leapt forward from the gunline to help the Ynnari engage the thousand sons terminators, but it seems the elves had it well in hand and their help was not needed. Shooting from the allies continued to thin out the chaos forces. The Swooping Hawks, a reserved squad of grey hunters, and a Leman Russ battle tank engaged the nearby death guard terminators.
Chaos 3 (17:45)
The heretic infantry, alerted to the fact that the astartes had gained control over the fortifications, closed on it and destroyed it. Space wolves ran from the wreckage, losing one of their number to the flames.
Typhus and a terminator escort teleported in near the imperial gunline. A quick-thinking long-fang picked them up on Auspex and vaporized one of the heretic terminator escort, but Typhus then charged in and slew a squad of Long Fangs. He was surprised to find the Yncarne emerge from one of the astartes death rattle and engage him with a terrifying sword that ignores invuln saves.
Shooting from the rest of the chaos force destroyed the Wulfen.
Allies 4 (18:40)
The space wolf heroes leapt forward to smash the heretic gunline. The Yncarne rained a psychic barrage down on typhus and finished him off with its hungry sword. Shooting slew many heretic terminators.
Chaos 4 (19:00)
Shooting took out a few more imperial units.
We called it a bit early at the end of turn 4, as it had been a long day. There wasn't really a clear victor -- the imperials had taken control of the fortifications, but then Chaos had destroyed them, nullifying that advantage. Both forces were nearly destroyed in the battle. It looked like the Lady Yvraine and the Inquisitor would have to be content with a stalemate...
Edited by: Volkov on 5/7/23