Imperial Probe Decoder XXXVVIII, elliptical orbit about Virco 5, message intercept

4.21.3

“… and so it is with great sorrow that we follow this uncivilised course. I consider
your Emperor to be nothing more than empty idolatry, the learned Aun of Borkan
would be shocked at your mindless following of his will (I know that even my
ethereal, who has a soft spot for religious follies, would not approve)…”

“…Your valour in battle I do not question. I can say with confidence that we share a
distaste for the Orks (particularly those that manipulate the warp and are capable of
transfiguration). However the regrettable decision to reject our offers of dialogue will,
I fear, result in the annihilation of your forces. We will meet, Darkos, on the falling of
the sun…. ”

Pitched battle, Seize ground (5 objectives)

T1

El Quixo’s forces were the fastest to react, the massed ranks of fire warriors,
hammerheads and pathfinders setting up 2 firebases nearby objectives. All crisis
suits decided to mount surprise attacks by deep striking and one unit of kroot
outflanked. The second Kroot unit infiltrated into the woods containing an objective.

The 2 firewarrior units on the Tau left flank opened up with a devastating volley of
pulse rifle fire, aided by the pathfinders markerlights. A unit of Devastators was
reduced from an array of 6 to a single plasma gunner, who held firm. On the right
flank, and despite no markerlight support, the other 2 firewarrior units managed to
inflict 2 casualties on the second devastator unit, who promptly fled! Great Tau
gunnery!

With the wind in their sails the might of hammerhead

railguns detected the whirlwind as a result of pathfinder
reconnaissance. Hit bonuses and reduction to cover rolls
meant that the time was surely up for the whirlwind, before
it had fired a single missile. The first shot flew in, but pinged
off a concrete pillar (rolls a 6 on cover save). The second
shot misses the target(rolls a 6 on cover save)! The
broadsides desperately tried to rescue the situation but the
vehicle was completely hidden by the structure in front!
Instead they targeted the large bike unit, vapourising one biker.

The Vespid leapt into the devilfigh on the right flank, which sped to the right to face
off against the bikes.

With that, the Sun Dragons made their move…

S1

The fleeing devastators

rallied, since they knew no
fear, the rally cries of Darkos
ringing in their ears.

Librarian Telcias cast gate of

infinity with the aim of
advancing on the Tau left
flank (which had displayed
such competent gunnery in
the Tau first turn). However a
distortion in the fabric of the
warp resulted in their scatter out to the open battlefield! This was not Telicas’ most
auspicious moment and set the tone for his battle and that of his tactical unit. On the
same flank, the 2 landspeeders emerged from behind the wood, ready to pour
purifying ammunition into the fire warriors. The unit of 4 scout bikes turbo boosted
nearly on top of the firewarriors, who were beginning to feel rather exposed.

Their fears were realised….

“FROM THE SUN!”

The combined fire of

assault cannon and heavy
bolters of the speeders,
plus the last devastator
plasma gunner killed 4 Tau
from the more advanced
unit in the woods. The gory
death of their comrades
was too much, and they
fled towards the table
edge!

The kroot were next to feel

the pain. Darkos command
squad advanced and used
their storm bolters,
pumping shells into the forest, killing 2 kroot and wounding the shaper.
The dreaded whirlwind lined up the kroot in the woods, but the shot scattered wildly
into the firewarriors on the crater, killing one and pinning them! Darko wondered
where and when El’Quixo would turn up…

T2

The fleeing Tau rallied and

consolidated back into the woods they
fled from. The crisis suits showed
impeccable punctuality as all 3 units
turned up.

The tank-hunter monat was placed

next to the whirlwind… surely curtains
for the whirlwind… and promptly
scattered behind the cursed concrete
structure (despite pathfinder homing
beacon)!

The crisis team equipped with

incineration equipment arrived and
also scattered, however their flamers
were still in range of the bike
squadron who were their primary
target. On the flip side Sun Dragon
dreadnought Eliab was in close
proximity.

Lighting up their flamers and aided

again by the firewarriors, the scout
bikers were nearly killed outright.
One biker survived, who proptly fled.

The 3rd deep striking unit was

El’Quixo and his Q-Guard. They emerged from a camouflaged bunker and leapt to the
attack of Librarian Telcias’ unit. Their plasma and fusion weaponry killed 5 space
marines, forcing a morale check. Telcias promptly rolled 11 on 2D6 and fled!

On the other side of the board, the

Vespid leapt out of the Devilfish,
confident that their neutron blasters
would decimate the large bike unit.
However their hopes were in vain as
only one bike was destroyed.

The monat who had scattered so

terribly was determined to complete
his mission, and miraculously he did so, hitting, penetrating and
exploding the whirlwind!

The broadsides turned their attention to dreadnought Azazel, who they managed to
immobilise.
S2

The remaining bike was too close to El’Quixo and fled off the table. Agonisingly for
Darkos, Librarian Telcias followed suit, and along with him the remainder of the
tactical squad and all chances of machine curses! To add to the misery the
terminators stayed away this turn.

Dreadnought Eliab started the turn in fine style, killing 2 flamer crisis suits with the
team leader fleeing. The massacre of crisis suits wasn’t to stop there. The brave
monat was gunned down at point blank range by tactical squads. Finally, devastators
and landspeeders took aim at El’Quixo. The outcome was not pretty, with his Q-
guards being blown away. El’Quixo was so exhasperated by this that he decided
tactical retreat was the logical option, and he could not rally owing to his unit being
below half strength!

In a final flurry of activity,

the exposed Vespid were
made to pay for their lack
of killer instinct by being
blown away by the bikes,
who watched as the insects
fled the field.

T3
 El Quixo fled the
battle along with
the Vespid.

The fire warriors

on th left and
centre decided it
was time to take
matters into their
own hands.

All units
advanced on the
objectives. The
devilfish on the
left flank
swooped low and
wrecked a land
speeder with a
volley from its
burst cannon.

The broadsides decided to deal

with the bikes on the right flank,
and succeeded in destroying all
but 2, the remainder fleeing.

S3

The 2 fleeing bikers rallied and

turned for another attempt to break the Tau lines. And then the hoplite Terminators
arrived… There was wide-spread panic in the Tau lines as flames engulfed fire
warriors and pathfinders. This resulted in the destruction of 2 squads who fled off the
table.
The left flank fared no better than the centre, the brave advancing firewarriors has
walked into the deadly fire of the last speeded, killing five and breaking them. The
devastators targeted hammerheads but failed to penetrate the armour. The 2 bikes
targeted the broadsides and caused 2 wounds, while a krak missile blew a shield
drone away.

T4

The outflanking kroot

arrived on the Tau left,
threatening to grab an
objective.

The Tau vehicles

continued to perform
well, devilfish stunning
the last speeder and
hammerhead
immobilising Dreadnought Eliab.

Broadsides wiped the bikes.

The rest of the Tau army tried manfully to destroy the terminators but only one was
blown away. The terminators were very close to the 1st unit of Kroot in the woods,
who had been resiliently holding an objective all game…

S4

The terminators destroy the Kroot with heavy flamer fire. Darkos command squad
run towards the outflanking Kroot. The last broadside drone is destroyed by heavy
weapons.
T5

The outlflanking kroot tentatively let 2 hounds out of the wood to claim the objective
that would win the game. The hammerhead supports them, hastily landing on the
wrecked land speeder! Immobilised brother Eliab can only look on in immobilised
anguish!

The other Hammerhead surges forward to contest the single held Sun Dragon
objective next turn. The shooting phase is superfluous in part because of decimated
ranged capacity.

S5

The terminator hoplites ignore the nearby steath suits and run towards the Tau
objective on the crater. Hammerhead has railgun disabled and is stunned from heavy
weapons fire.
Darko and command squad assault Kroot, and annihilate them! Game ends on turn 5.

Epilogue

Darkos turned, just in time to see the Sun bursting over the horizon of Virko 5. “FROM
THE SUN” he heard his hoplite terminators cheer over the shared comm.-link. Darko
wiped his brow and realised that he was covered in the blood of Kroot. The green
savages had fled, and the thrust of El’Quixo’s armoured advance on their positions
had failed. His children, the Sun Dragons, held the Northern tactical annexe however
the Tau still controlled the mineral-rich highlands. “Damn him” muttered Darkos
“Damn his eyes”. As he squinted at the morning sun, he began to think of
consolidation, and of orbital strikes to remove the enemy armour….
Result – draw (1 objective each held). SM kill points 10, Tau kill points 6.
El Quixo Cadre

El Quixo Fusion/Plasma/HWMT/Stim/ shield gen 117

2 Q-Guard Fusion/Plasma/HWMT/ Arrays 164

3 crisis suits, TL flamers, burst cannon, ld w/ detonator 137

monat with TL fusion and flamer 47
3 stealth suits each with marker drone 180

7 pathfinders+ devilfish w disruptn pod 169

7 pathfinders+ devilfish w disruptn pod 169
10 vespid inc strain leader 166

10 firewarriors, inc shasui bonded 115

10 firewarriors, inc shasui bonded 115
10 firewarriors, inc shasui bonded 115
10 firewarriors, inc shasui bonded 115
10 kroot, 10 hounds 130
16 kroot +shaper 140

3 broadsides, stabilisers, ld w/ 2 shield drones 275

Hammerhead, DP, burst cannons, multi tracker 165
Hammerhead, DP, burst cannons, multi tracker 165

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Darko’s Men

Darko, stormbolter, digi weapons, artificier armour 155

command squad, stormbolters + stormshields 187
Librarian, terminator armour, gate of infinity, machine curse 180

Dreadnought, assault cannon, stormbolter, power fist 115

Dreadnought, assault cannon, stormbolter, power fist 115
terinators w heavy flamer 205

5 bikes, 1 attack bike w multimelta 185

4 scout bikes 130
2 landspeeder, hvy bolter and assault cannon 180

tactical squad, missile launcher, flamer 180

tactical squad, missile launcher, flamer 180
tactical squad, missile launcher, flamer 180

Devastators, 2 missile launcher, 1lascannon, 1 plasma cannon 175

Devastators, 2 missile launcher, 1lascannon, 1 plasma cannon 175
Whilwind 85

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