+ inload: 30k Battle Report: Iron Warriors vs Imperial Fists +

+  Assault on Pradesh Novum army lists and preliminaries +

+ Had a great game set on Terra during the Horus Heresy last night, where I fielded my embittered Iron Warriors of Officio Monstrosa [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] against Bob Hunk's stoic Imperial Fists of Team Fisto [+noospheric inload link embedded+]. +

+ This was a 2,000pt game played using the Warhammer 40,000 rules with the Age of Darkness ruleset. We decided to play the Dominion mission, which is based around capturing areas of the battlefield over the course of the game, with secondary objectives of wearing down the enemy. We added a bit of a twist by playing it on a small 4 x 4ft board with densely-packed urban terrain; to represent Pradesh Novum, one of the many subdistricts and old towns that make up the sprawling outer part of the Palace. +

+ Below are the army lists we took, along with some short stories to get you in the mood. +

+++ 

The Petitioner District

by Bob Hunk [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]

The dust from the bombardment had given the sky a permanent red cast, even here in the old Himalisia. The hellish glow had choked the normal cloudless azure of the sky. But that was just another irrelevant detail for Letholdus to file away as his world was swallowed by the siege. It ground on and on, consuming all of his existence. The Traitors were being made to pay for every single step they took towards the walls of the Imperial Palace. They paid in blood, and in iron and in transhuman lives. But it appeared the Treacher Legions had more than enough coin enough to spend on their advance.

Letholdus was numb to it all. Numb to the insanely spiralling casualty figures. Numb to the weeks of only fitful half-sleep. Numb to the faces of friends and foe alike, faces that even now faded to grey in his mind's eye and were swept away in the ash. It had all become a rhythm; a ticking metronome that measured their backwards steps across the Kathmandu plateau.

Tick-tick-tick. The thermal contraction of Mark VI power armour in the cold Tibetan nights. Tick-tick-tick. The chrono counting down to the next bombardment. Tick-tick-tick. A faulty actuator twitching in his powered gauntlet. Tick-tick-tick. The butcher’s tally steadily rising as their defensive perimeter tightened across the Petitioner’s District.

His Command Land Raider crushed a low wall to powder beneath its relentless tracks, and Letholdus steadied himself on the cupola. The cyclopean walls of the Inner Palace loomed on the horizon, a rockcrete smear in the haze, dwarfing the district they currently traveled through. As the Imperial Fists fell back and the walls became clearer, so too did their...their what? Defeat? No, never that. Their situation. Their limits, logistics and supply lines. That’s all he saw now, in crystal clarity. Letholdus watched the walls grind inexorably closer and listened to the tick-tick-tick of Land Raider’s systems beneath him.

The vox snapped. Letholdus touched his earpiece.

“Reinforcements, Praetor,” a voice crackled, the words of vox operator distorted by magnetic backwash.

The information was unnecessary, he had already seen them. As the Imperial Fists consolidated further towards the Palace walls, a golden arrow flew out to meet them. Letholdus watched the baroque grav-carrier skim towards them, feeling the tick-tick-tick of muscle spasm around the edge of his bionic eye. In better times would he have considered their arrival an honour or an insult? It was neither now, he was simply numb.

Letholdus called a halt. They had reached their latest fall-back line. The Iron Warriors weren’t far behind. Ranging artillery was already stamping flat the slums to the east. Soon these streets would run red with genhanced blood. The Imperial Fists began to dig in. Tattered but proud banners were raised. Letholdus issued orders. The grav-carrier slowed, disembarked four gilded lions, and then sped away, back towards the Palace.

Tick-tick-tick. Four pairs of gold armoured boots rhythmically crunched through the dust and broken glass towards Letholdus.

“Praetor Letholdus,” said their leader, removing his helmet, “I am Shield-Captain Hyperion of the Legio Custodes.”

+++

Team Fisto & Custodes (M31) (Space Marine Legions)		1,997 points
HQ		152 points (8%)
Praetor (152)	WS6·BS5·S4·T4·W3·I5·A4·Ld10·Sv2+ artificer armour; power weapon (sword); solarite power gauntlet; bolter; frag grenades; krak grenades; refractor field Infantry (Character); Legiones Astartes; Master of the Legion; Independent Character
Troops		525 points (26%)
9 Breacher Space Marines (305)	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A1·Ld8·Sv3+ power armour; boarding shield; bolter; bolt pistol; 2× flamer; frag and krak grenades; legion vexilla Infantry; Legiones Astartes; Hardened Armour
+ 1 Breacher Sergeant	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A2·Ld9·Sv3+ artificer armour; boarding shield; plasma pistol; power weapon; frag and krak grenades; breaching charge Infantry (Character); Legiones Astartes; Hardened Armour
9 Tactical Space Marines (185)	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A1·Ld8·Sv3+ power armour; bolters; bolt pistols; frag and krak grenades; legion vexilla Infantry; Legiones Astartes; Fury of the Legion
+ 1 Tactical Sergeant	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A2·Ld9·Sv3+ artificer armour; bolter; power fist; bolt pistol; frag and krak grenades Infantry (Character); Legiones Astartes; Fury of the Legion
Rhino (35)	BS4·FA11·SA11·RA10·HP3 searchlight; smoke launchers; twin-linked bolter Vehicle (Tank, Transport); Repair
Elites		325 points (16%)
Contemptor Dreadnought Talon
Contemptor Dreadnought (190)	WS5·BS5·S7·FA13·SA12·RA10·I4·A3·HP3 Kheres pattern assault cannon; dreadnought close combat weapon (twin-linked bolter); smoke launchers; searchlight Vehicle (Walker); Dreadnought Talon; Atomantic Shielding; Fleet
Mortis Dreadnought (135)	WS4·BS5·S6·FA12·SA12·RA10·I4·A3·HP3 smoke launchers; searchlight; 2 twin-linked autocannons Vehicle (Walker); Helical Targeting Array
Heavy Support		590 points (30%)
Predator Strike Squadron
Predator (150)	BS4·FA13·SA11·RA10·HP3 predator cannon; smoke launchers; searchlight; lascannon sponsons; machine spirit Vehicle (Tank)
Land Raider Battle Squadron
Land Raider Proteus (220)	BS4·FA14·SA14·RA14·HP4 2 twin-linked lascannon; searchlight; smoke launchers; machine spirit; twin-linked heavy bolter Vehicle (Tank, Transport)
Land Raider Proteus (220)	BS4·FA14·SA14·RA14·HP4 2 twin-linked lascannon; searchlight; smoke launchers; machine spirit; twin-linked heavy bolter Vehicle (Tank, Transport)

Detachment: Custodes Strike Force (Legio Custodes)
HQ		225 points (56%)
Shield Captain (225)	WS6·BS5·S5·T5·W4·I6·A5·Ld10·Sv2+ Paragon spear; Close combat weapon; Iron halo; Plasma & krak grenades; Custodes armour; Melta bombs; Digital lasers; new option Legio Custodes, Bulky, Crusader, Counter-attack, Precision Strikes, Precision Shots, Independent Character
Troops		180 points (44%)
3 Custodian Guard Squad (180)	WS5·BS5·S5·T5·W2·I5·A2·Ld9·Sv2+ Guardian spear; Close combat weapon; Refractor field; Plasma & krak grenades; Custodes armour; Melta bombs Legio Custodes, Bulky, Crusader

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



+++

Prelude to Conflict

Tick-tick-tick. An internal chromometer marks another phase of the interminable bombardment. 

Exhausted, moving by rote, he retrieves his helm from inside the turret, and fixes it in place even as the white streaks – some arcane alchemical propellant, perhaps? – describe the ballistics' elegant arc towards the palace walls. 

For a moment, they seem to give the red sky white ribs. 

Like the machinery of a clock, the Iron Warriors are already in motion. Even as the wave of displaced dust barrels towards them, the infantry are stepping out of cover and stalking forward warily. Auspex tracking, weapons lit, his predator's heavy tracks greedily bite into the dead ground, and it lurches forward alongside its companions. 

Instinctively, he closes an eye, to preserve his sight as the missiles impact. The distant white flashes burn black in his autosenses, and he re-opens his eye, shaking his head with fatigue. 

The Emperor's forces were throwing everything at the Warmaster-loyalists, and in turn the rebels were pummelling and punishing the very earth itself to make it turn over the Legionaries of the VIIth Legion. 

Not enough dead. The Imperial Fists had winnowed and defiladed and undermined and bombarded the Iron Warriors – and still the advance continued. Steady as an atomic clock, their lock-step an interminable, inevitable tick-tick-tick. Soon. Soon there would be a reckoning. No ambushes and outflanking; a pure battle. Blade against blade. Arm against arm. 

"Episcopi?" 

Not enough dead. Not nearly enough.  

"My lord Artabas?" The voice registers. He grunts in response, waves a distracted hand at the Legionary. The Legionary wordlessly reaches up to the cupola, hands the slate over.The wave of hot dust and ash envelops the column of cold-eyed Legionaries, washing over and around them, cloaking their advance. It is as hot and dull and painful as his exhaustion. 

The atomics set off a warning count in his armour; tick-tick-tick, but he remains scanning the horizon from the open hatch. As the count slows, he removes his helm once again and looks down at the slate as the tank prowls forward. Munition expenditure, casualty predictions, advance demands, requests for support. Niceties. Irrelevancies. 

The inside of his mouth tastes of tin and copper and smoke. As the column passes another shelled-out slum, he sneers at his reflection in an incongruously intact window. Red-eyed and smeared with black dirt, his teeth are limned with blood. The air is hot, greasy with rad-wash. He spits, and looks forward. 

Himalasia. The Inner Walls. A muscle spasms in his eye – a tic of fatigue – as he spies a distant golden arrow descend and disappear behind an intervening curtain wall. Artabas' bloody teeth break into a grin. If the Custodes are present, the Fists are nearly at bay. His hands twitch furiously."Full advance!"

+++

Officia Monstrosa 2000 (Legiones Astartes)		2,000 points
HQ		320 points (16%)
Artabas (Siege Breaker) (150)	WS5·BS5·S4·T4·W2·I5·A3·Ld9·Sv3+ nuncio-vox; phosphex bomb; artificer armour; power weapon (maul); charnabal sabre; frag grenades; krak grenades; refractor field; Consul: Siege Breaker Infantry (Character); Legiones Astartes; Consul; Independent Character; Art of Destruction
Çjarn (Champion) (170)	WS6·BS5·S4·T4·W2·I5·A3·Ld9·Sv3+ Combat Augment Array; artificer armour; power weapon (axe; master-crafted); power weapon (axe; master-crafted); frag grenades; krak grenades; refractor field; Consul: Champion Infantry (Character); Legiones Astartes; Consul; Independent Character; Supreme Fighter; Honour of the Legion
Troops		510 points (26%)
Muster XIX (14 Tactical Space Marines) (185)	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A1·Ld8·Sv3+ power armour; bolters; bolt pistols; frag and krak grenades; nuncio-vox Infantry; Legiones Astartes; Fury of the Legion
+ 1 Tactical Sergeant	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A2·Ld9·Sv3+ power armour; chainsword; bolt pistol; frag and krak grenades Infantry (Character); Legiones Astartes; Fury of the Legion
Muster LII (16 Tactical Space Marines) (215)	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A1·Ld8·Sv3+ power armour; bolters; bolt pistols; frag and krak grenades; nuncio-vox Infantry; Legiones Astartes; Fury of the Legion
+ 1 Tactical Sergeant	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A2·Ld9·Sv3+ power armour; power weapon; bolt pistol; frag and krak grenades Infantry (Character); Legiones Astartes; Fury of the Legion
Muster XIV Basilikoi (4 Tactical Support Marines) (110)	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A1·Ld8·Sv3+ power armour; volkite chargers; bolt pistol; combat blades; frag and krak grenades Infantry; Legiones Astartes; Support Squad
+ 1 Tactical Support Sergeant	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A2·Ld9·Sv3+ power armour; bolt pistol; frag and krak grenades Infantry (Character); Legiones Astartes; Support Squad
Elites		150 points (8%)
2 Rapier Carriers (150)	WS–·BS–·S–·T7·W2·I–·A–·Ld–·Sv3+ 2× graviton cannon Artillery; Extremely Bulky
• 4× Space Marine Crew	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A1·Ld8·Sv3+ power armour; bolt pistols; frag and krak grenades Infantry; Legiones Astartes
Heavy Support		1,020 points (51%)
Predator Strike Squadron
Predator (115)	BS4·FA13·SA11·RA10·HP3 predator cannon; smoke launchers; searchlight; lascannon sponsons Vehicle (Tank)
Predator (115)	BS4·FA13·SA11·RA10·HP3 predator cannon; smoke launchers; searchlight; lascannon sponsons Vehicle (Tank)
Predator (95)	BS4·FA13·SA11·RA10·HP3 predator cannon; smoke launchers; searchlight; heavy bolter sponsons Vehicle (Tank)
Hekaton Zodios (Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought Talon)
Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnought (310)	WS5·BS5·S8·FA13·SA13·RA12·I4·A4·HP4 Leviathan siege drill (meltagun); Leviathan storm cannon; 2× volkite caliver; smoke launchers; searchlight; frag grenades; extra armour; phosphex discharger Vehicle (Walker); Reinforced Atomantic Shielding; Crushing Charge; Dreadnought Talon; Move Through Cover
Muster CPXLII (4 Heavy Support Marines) (185)	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A1·Ld8·Sv3+ power armour; multi-meltas; bolt pistol; frag and krak grenades Infantry; Legiones Astartes
+ 1 Heavy Support Sergeant	WS4·BS4·S4·T4·W1·I4·A2·Ld9·Sv3+ power armour; bolt pistol; frag and krak grenades Infantry (Character); Legiones Astartes
Land Raider Battle Squadron
Immisericordia (Land Raider Proteus) (200)	BS4·FA14·SA14·RA14·HP4 2 twin-linked lascannon; searchlight; smoke launchers; machine spirit; twin-linked heavy bolter (shrapnel bolts) Vehicle (Tank, Transport)