Battle Report: Deceit of an Empire

Hello. 

We have started our Great Crusade Karrus Campaign. It has been a long time coming and with a few false starts, but now it's on. 

First off we need to set the scene. It will be set in the Galactic North in the Ultramar Segmentum a few sectors to the right of Gothic. 

We are treating it as an expanse which has been left alone (a pocket of resistance if you will) in which our Legions will encounter many different foes. 

We are short of Xenos opponents at the moment due to our passion for Heresy and so we have decided to kill two birds with one stone. 

We will be setting the first Campaign in a Sub-Sector in control of a small empire called the Purokar League. 

The Purokar League are masters of 36 Worlds. Purokar is formed from the two factions that hold dominion over these Worlds - Puro from Puroti and Kar from Karskan. 

We have written it as though the Iron Warrior Legion encountered the civilisation and bade them join the Imperium. The Purokar League are technologically advanced with access to most of the STCs used by the Mechanicum Taghmatas and Technologically advanced armour suits used by the Saturine armoured forces. The Purokar league put terms down saying that they would comply and that in nine years time they will cast the last of their old ways away and join the Great Crusade with an army that would darken stars. Obviously something has to go wrong so you will have to follow our Battle reports and narratives to see how this story plays out. This opening story enables us to use Mechanicum and the Solar Auxilia as enemy forces in this Campaign (which tackles our lack of Xenos situation). 

The opening 2-3 battles will set the scene of the invasion of the Purokar League of planets. Basically A compliance detachment force is stationed on the planet to help the Purokar civilisation enter the Imperium. When treachery ensues they have to escape the planet and bring message to the rest of the Imperium that the Purokar are not compliant. The Purokar are trying to stop this from happening so they can amass a larger force to defend their civilisation. If the first battle is successful the Iron Warriors escape the planet to their ships in orbit, if they fail the force stationed on the planet do not escape but their is still a chance the force in orbit can get a message to the Imperium. If the first and second battle are won by Iron Warriors then they are successful and the forces which are to be deployed to force Compliance on the Purokar people are better informed regarding the Purokar Sector. If the Purokar league manage to prevent the Compliance force from getting a message out they are better equipped to fight the Imperium when they eventually send a force to investigate the lack of reports from the Iron Warrior force. 

So let's start. 

Battle 1: Deceit of an Empire. 

'Bitches!' Delegatus Kohler cursed as he pulled himself from the downed shuttle and patted a small fire from his Pauldron. It had become somewhat of a catchphrase of his in the last twenty two minutes. He had said it first through gritted teeth,  behind his helm as the two Ladies of the Purokar League had announced to the populace via vidcast that the eight years of negotiations with the Imperium were over; Bitches. He had said it over inter-suit vox again when Selina Ko Tannik - or the Lithium Flower as her loving populace widely know her - had turned to his Delegation and decried Terra and the Emperor; Bitches. He had cursed again as he realised they had been set up, his vox cyphers had been compromised. Static had greeted him as he tried to communicate to the rest of his Compliance force; Bitches. He roared it from his plated helm as the bitches' bodyguard of Castellax had turned their weapons upon them, he drew his Thunder Hammer and charged; BITCHES!!!

Only he and four others had managed to fight their way out of the Auditorium. They had crossed the city with Thralls and The Steel Guard being on their heels the entire time. It galled him to retreat, but he knew that they would have been overwhelmed and killed had they stayed to fight; bitches. They stole a lighter from small ferry port, trans-atmospheric but with Nalanaar's air defence they wouldn't make it over a hundred metres into the sky. 

They flew the lighter like burglars in pursuit down the Hab streets, glass raining like tears at their passing. He had pulled it above the Curtain wall to escape the city, that is when the cannons began to pepper the craft, one shot hit the engine; bitches. He compensated the flight of the lighter and managed to keep it aloft for three Kilometres. It had come down hard not two hundred metres from Castellum CD21-Beta, flaming debris scattering the barren earth; bitches. 

Lorencz Kohler dragged Haruk from beneath a slab of wing, he still clasped the now tattered standard of their Great Company. 

'Bitches' Haruk said as he pulled himself up the banner. Lorencz nodded in agreement. The other three Iron Warriors extracted themselves from the wreck and they were moving again. 

'CD21-Beta, are you receiving me?' Lorencz asked into his inter-squad vox, they were close enough to the pre-fab fortress hopefully for the Garrison to pick up his communications if they had rewritten the codifiers and cyphers. His Squad's Vox and Nuncio-Vox had been jammed for twenty minutes now, usually within seven minutes a Legion could get their channels cleaned and a new data structure created. No response came, It had been twenty four minutes now; heads were going to roll for this. 

A roar came from across the hard pan behind them, he turned to briefly assess the source. Nine Silhouettes travelling roughly eighty kilometres an hour, four as large as a Land Raider and five as a Rhino. Force disposition in this territory; I-78 Lightning tanks, I-93 Shock barges, Meth Ta'kar Super Heavy, Kuskar Chargers, Volkite Jekkars and Cannon Jekkars; only three of these classes could travelling at this speed. Heat haze over the four Large ones gave their chassis away as I-93 Shock Barges, or "Triaros" as the Mechanicum identified them. Standard combat doctrine of the Puroti required four of these vehicles to be deployed with I-78s "Krios" in support. Estimated force forty Battle Automata and-

His thoughts were interrupted as he realised the roar wasn't coming from the advancing land vehicles, but from the three box shaped landers coming in fast, 'Bitches' he cursed again and carried on running, they would need Lascannons for against their cargo. 

'Delegatus Kohler, this is CD21-Beta, new vox network secure and encrypted, what has happened?' came a static free communication, his eyes flashed to the the secure channel cyphers now pouring in onto his eye lens. 

'It's about bloody time Holg,' he barked.

'I apologise Delegatus, we seem to have suffered a communications blackout, a series of meteors have taken down the primary Vox relay, the secondary and tertiary relays failed instantly, it looks like Scrapcode. I had to totally purge and rebuild the Code keys and data cyphers.' Holg replied, adding another shred of evidence that the Bitches never planned to join the Imperium. An attack on their comms could have been done in the guise of a Meteor strike. 

This was the day they all hoped would bring an end to their tenure in the Purokar League. 

'The Bitches have been biding their time whilst we sit on protocol trying to bring them to a bloodless compliance,' Lorencz spat, 'we can atleast blood them for their audacity.'

'Yes Delagatus,' came Holg's response, 'awaiting orders.'

'We are one hundred metres out, we have Triaros and Krios inbound from the South and I believe some Thanatars in the three dusters.' They were starting their descent, he realised from the noises he was hearing over his shoulder. 

'Shoot the Bastards out of the sky!' He ordered the attack. 

The Hyperios Launcher swivelled to target the Transports, they coughed two missiles into the desert sky. They impacted the blocky transport as it tried to evade and spit flares. 

One shredded through the main hull and the other into the cargo compartment sending shreds of its cargo out of the far wall. The craft span and hit the ground with enough force to lift a layer of desert dust up into the still air all around them. It exploded after a couple of seconds as though it was contemplating doing it or not. 

A second duster flew and landed hard nearby in its urgency to offload its cargo and be away. Immense steel doors swung down revealing its burnished cargo. A Thanatar lumbered out, its tread sending faint tremors through the ground as it turned slightly and began it's advance towards CD21-Beta. The automata was huge, dwarfing the standard Thallaxii that were a more common site in the League. A ridged sensorium crested its torso, giving the impression of a large head or crew compartment, which couldn't be further from the truth, whilst a squat drum like mortar squatted over it's left shoulder with a blue Plasma light emanating from its depths. 

The third duster flew low overhead spitting flares as Hyperios missiles careened towards it, heading towards CD21-Gamma, the third of the Iron Warrior Compliance Strongholds. 

Delegatus Kohler and his squad ran into the compound of CD21-Beta as the electric barrier was momentarily deactivated. He spat orders to get the Heavy Weapons to the wall so they could face the approaching deadly foe. He looked from the battlements at the force arrayed against them and knew their tenure on this planet had ended. 

'Iron hope this is Delegatus Kohler negotiations have failed with the Purokar League, beware battle in heavens, send three Sokars down, we need to be extracted.' Kohler Voxed from Tyr's Nuncio unit. He heard a fizz and then came the voice of Ship Master Dalakar. 

'We have been boarded under the guise of comradeship. We need your assistance Delegatus.' Lorencz cursed again, they were trying to stop them from getting away, and also from getting a message out. 

'Ship Master, is the Astropathic sanctum secure?' Kohler asked. 

'My Lord it is clearly one of their objectives, we will endeavour to hold out.'

'Do so. If we can't escape then we at least need to get a message to the Imperium.'

'The Sokars have been dispatched, coming in hard. Get up here quick Delegatus.'

'Iron within brother,' Lorencz replied. 

'Iron without,' came Dalakar's reply as Bolter fire cracked behind it. 

He addressed all Iron Warriors under his command. 'Sons of Perturabo, our salvation is descending from above. We are to blood their main force now as they approach. Our goal here was to bring the Purokar league to compliance or bring the Imperium down upon them. They are trying to prevent us from getting this message out, we cannot let this happen!'

Out of the swirling dust came the Steel clad Kuskar brandishing long las-rifles of the Karskan dynasty and the burnished Bronze Automatons of the Puroti. 

Kohler hefted his Thunderhammer in two hands. 

'Iron warriors, open fire.' 

The Purokar League 

Iron Warriors - Compliance Detachment 21 (CD21). 

Deployment. Iron Warriors get first turn. 

The Volkite Culverin, Rotor Cannons and Lascannons open up at long range. 

The Iron Warriors on the left flank open up with their Bolters on the Kuskar Steel Guard. 

The Kuskar Steel Guard and the Triaros start their assault on the Castellum. 

The Dominus tries to up the repair protocols of the Thanatar, but instead only manages to stun the hulking siege automata. 

The Lascannons Fire with a sense of urgency trying to fell the Thanatar but it is a Paragon of metal and it plods onwards. 

The Rotor squad is forced to light the gate barrier with the Thanatar looming forward and thus all the squad's shots through the field fail to wound a single Steel Guard. 

The Krios and the Kuskar Steel Guard fire at the Iron Warriors felling 5 Legionnaires.

The Thanatar fires it's Helix Mortar and destroys 5 Volkite Culverin Legionnaires whilst the Thanatar and Kuskar Steel Guard down some others. 

The Iron Warriors retaliate inflicting a heavy toll on the Kuskar Steel Guard. The Thanatar takes a little more damage too. 

The Kuskar fall back. 

The Purokar league advance and the Triaros disembarks it's compliment of Thallax in front of the Ogrynfor a bit of extra cover. The Magos Dominus tries to use his Cyberthurgy to get the Thanatar to fire it's Plasma mortar at double speed. This fails and the Thanatar's systems go haywire and it recognises all combatants as hostile. 

The Kuskar continue to fall back after the Thanatar takes an interest in them and begins its assault. 

The other flank gets close and bloody with the Iron Warriors assaulting the Kuskar before they are themselves assaulted. 

The Krios turns its attentions on the Castellum Iron Warriors, forcing the Lascannons on the Battlements to prioritise it as a target. The Meltagun support squad get close to attempt to cut some Thallax down and buy some time for the Sokar to arrive. 

The Ogryn are forced to onwards through the use of the deadman switch that the Purokar utilise on them. 

The Krios devastates the Iron Warriors in the Castellum and the Ogryn charge. After a brutal set of combat, it falls to Delegatus Kohler to drive his Thunderhammer through the last beast's skull. He then takes the fight to the Thallax becoming the Iron Without. They are dispatched swiftly. 

The Krios then turns it's attention to the Thanatar as no other suitable targets are available and manage to put the Siege Automata down. In the diversion though the Meltagun support squad advance and destroy the Triaros. 

The Sokar arrives and drops rappelling lines for Delgatus Kohler. They board as quickly as possible and the vessel heads for orbit. Kohler will need to assist in the defence of his ship and it's escape from the system. That Battle Report should follow within a week, see what happens. 

Iron Warrior victory. 

Units of the match: 

For the Iron Warriors Drake chooses the Volkite Culverin squad. With all of the Toughness 5 Thallax and Ogryn, these performed brilliantly (also the reason the the Thanatar singled them out before going bonkers). 

For the Purokar League:

The Krios did so much damage. It's Lightning Cannon is a pure Legion Killer.