Assembled Rogal Dorn Tank

 I assembled a Rogal Dorn tank! Took me about 3 to 3 and a half hours to finish the damned thing. But completely worth it. Now I have a Rogal Dorn battle tank of my own! Woohoo!

What else can I say? I guess I'll paint him soon? I still have to paint my Draconian (Krieg) infantry and Sentinel, so...yeah. Anyway, I'm pleased that I have this guy, and he'll be joining my armored company consisting of Leman Russ Executioner tanks and a Stormblade (though I'm running him as a Shadowsword until I get an updated datasheet for him). Till then!

Skirmish in Prospero

I managed to get another Horus Heresy game today! This time, I was playing against a friend with Space Wolves, and we decided to re-enact one of the many skirmishes in Prospero. You know, the Razing of Prospero by the Space Wolves. We chose Blood Feud for the mission and the Dawn of War deployment because they were the simplest, and having not played many Horus Heresy games, we were just trying to familiarize ourselves with the rules more than anything.

My friend had a cool Space Wolves list, but he chose the Armored Spearhead Rite of War, so that meant he had a single Predator that was the Master of Armor with the Warlord Trait that gave the tank BS5 and a 5++ invulnerable save (and it was armed with a neutron blaster, lascannon sponsons and pintle twin-linked bolter), a Predator squadron of 3 tanks with the standard autocannons, lascannon sponsons and pintle twin-linked bolters, a tactical squad in a Rhino, a Praetor in Cataphractii Terminator armor, a Forge Lord Centurion in Cataphractii Terminator armor, an Apocethary (with the tactical squad), 10 special Varagyr Wolf Guard Terminators, a Spartan Asssault Land Raider for the Terminators with twin-linked lascannons, an Outrider squad, 2 Spatha Attack Bikes with multi-meltas, heavy support tactical squad with 5 lascannons in a Rhino, 2 Leviathan Dreadnoughts - one with 2 grav-flux bombards and one with siege claw and storm cannon, and...I think that's pretty much it, actually.

In contrast, my Thousand Sons had a regular Praetor with Raptora psychic discipline, a Praevian, 2 tactical squads, a Techmarine, a Numerologist Cabal, 2 units of 2 Castellax-Achea battle-automata, 2 Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnoughts with gravis melta cannons and aether-fire blasters, a squadron of 2 Predators with the plasma executioner destroyer and lascannon sponsons, and a Knight Household detachment of a Questoris Knight Errant with Stormspear rocket pod and Albalester upgrade and 2 Armiger Warglaives with meltaguns.

My friend had first turn, I failed to seize the initiative, and he moved everyone forward. Despite having immense firepower where he emptied all the shots of the Predators into the Castellax-Achea battle-automata, he only destroyed one of them. The Outrider squad and attack bikes sped ahead, while the Terminators and heavy support tactical squad disembarked. The multi-meltas didn't do much because I made my ion shield saves, and the heavy support tactical squad was snap shooting with their lascannons because they moved and they didn't have Relentless. Damn. The Spartan also emptied everything it had into my Knight Errant, and failed to do a single wound (or it did a couple and I saved them). Even with Sunder. My opponent's rolls were awful, yeah. Poor guy. The Leviathan Dreadnought with storm cannon had better luck, taking 2 wounds off one of my Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnoughts. Ouch. Anyway, that was about it. He charged the Outrider bikes into one of my Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnoughts and they got annihilated. The same went for the attack bikes. They got stomped...well, more like they got shredded by the reaper chainsword of the Knight Errant, and...yeah. Oh, well.

I proceeded to have my Castellax-Achea battle-automata surge ahead, shooting and the Predators with their aether-fire cannons. The Predators also tried, but they didn't do much, or maybe it was their lascannons and one rending blow that allowed me to finally destroy one of the Predators. Oh, the Numerologist Cabal was a great help in improving their BS. Yay. On the other side, the Knight Errant shot and didn't do a single thing to the Spartan, but his thermal cannon succeeded in killing a bunch of Varagyr Wolf Guard Terminators and reducing their number. Yes! The Armiger Warglaives also killed a couple of Terminators with their meltaguns and thermal lances, and my friend was fed up with his garbage rolls because he was rolling 1s and stuff. He ended up throwing away half of his dice, and his rolls actually improved after that. Oh, and my two Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnoughts fired into the Leviathan Dreadnought and only did 1 wound. Oh, well.

Anyway, I had my Knight Errant charge and he...failed his charge because I rolled 2 1s. The Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnought also failed his charge against the Leviathan Dreadnought, but at least one Armiger Warglaive made it in, but he didn't kill any Terminators because his WS4 meant he was hitting the WS5 Varagyr Wolf Guard Terminators on 5+. Ugh. He took 2 or 3 wounds instead. Damn. On the other hand, my Castellax-Achea battle-automata made it into the Predator squadron and wrecked the remaining two tanks, blowing up one and actually dealing a hull point of damage to the commander Predator. Yikes!

My friend continued shooting, and this time he had better luck with the lascannons from the Spartan and the heavy support tactical squad, taking off 4 wounds from my Knight Errant. The Leviathan Dreadnought shot and charged my Armiger Warglaive...only to roll 2 1s for the wound rolls and only did 3 or so wounds to him. I think I took like 1 wound off him in return, but yeah. I can't remember what else...oh, right. The Terminators killed my Armiger Warglaive in combat. Yikes. He also disembarked his tactical squad from the Rhino earlier, for some reason. The second Leviathan Dreadnought shot with his double grav-flux bombards and...did nothing to my Knight Errant. Like I said, he was rolling horribly.

I think my Castellax-Achea battle-automata fired at the Warlord Predator tank, but they didn't do anything, and he made his invulnerable saves anyway. Maybe they took one hull point off him, leaving him with one. They failed their Achean Force so that wasn't going to do anything anyway. The Predators moved up and shot the Terminators, killing another two or so, while absolutely decimating the tactical squad. On the other hand, the Apocethary's Feel No Pain rolls came in clutch for him, and so I think only 4 or so died.

The Knight Errant actually blew up the Spartan Assault tank with his thermal cannon because I rolled a 5 on the vehicle damage table, and the AP1 meant I added 2 to the result, so it became a 7 and an Explodes! result. Nice. The heavy stubber did nothing against the Terminators, but it did mean I could charge them, though I didn't manage to do much because WS4 sucks against WS5. And the stomps all missed. I think I did kill one or two, so there was literally only one Terminator left, alongside the Praetor and the Forge Lord. On the other hand, the Leviathan Dreadnought killed my last Armiger Warglaive, only to find itself charged by one of my Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnought, who brought it down with his Achean-Force blade. Brutal was awesome - my Armiger Warglaive did one wound to the Leviathan before he died, and then I did enough Brutal wounds to shave off the last 4 of the Leviathan and killed it. Yay! Oh, and my Castellax-Achea battle-automata charged the command Predator and wrecked him in combat, though he didn't blow up this time.

The Wolf Guard Terminators fell back because "All Our Weapons are useless!" The heavy support tactical squad shot all their lascannons and they took another 2 wounds off my Knight Errant. The Leviathan Dreadnought finally made his points back with his grav-flux bombard destroying my Knight Errant, who blew up and killed another Terminator and the Forge Lord. Ouch. Just...ouch. Damn. I don't know what to say, man. He rolled 2 1s for a 2+ armor save. The tactical squad fared better, I think, but there were like 2 guys left and the Apocethary. Nonetheless, he had succeeded in destroying all of my Knights. That was painful and netted him 7 points for Blood Feud alone, because of Price of Failure.

I retaliated by wiping out the lascannon heavy support tactical squad with my 2 Predators, though my Numerologist Cabal blew themselves up by failing their power and suffering Perils of the Warp. 3 guys just got dragged screaming into the immaterium or mutated into chaos spawn before being put down by their brothers. Still good enough to take out the heavy support tactical squad, which was pretty much the only threat to my Predators, though they had a 4++ invulnerable save thanks to my Raptora Praetor passing his psychic check. The Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnoughts continued onward and killed the Praetor in Cataphractii Terminator armor with gravis melta cannon, and the second one killed the tactical marines and Apocethary with the gravis melta cannon and aether-fire blaster too. And it was a Rend too, yikes. Poor Space Wolves. Meanwhile, the Castellax-Achea battle automata fired from afar and did one hull point to one of the Rhinos, but that was about it.

At that point, my friend surrendered. He only had 2 Rhinors and a Leviathan Dreadnought left, while I still had a healthy army count. We rolled for fun to see if his Leviathan Dreadnought could kill one of my Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnoughts, but he only did 1 wound. Actually, he did 2 wounds, but I saved one of them (and rolled a 1 for the other, so he ate a wound). The volkites also didn't do anything, not against a Contemptor Dreadnought with a 2+ armor save. Nope, nothing was going right for him. If it kept going, my Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnoughts would have charged the non-melee Leviathan Dreadnought and rip him apart with their achean force-blades, so yeah.

Eventually, the score was 7 for him and...uh, 13 points for me. 14, because of Slay the Warlord. So I had double his amount of points. It was closer than the score makes it look like because I was missing one Castellax-achea battle-automata, one of my Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnoughts had half his wounds left, and 3 of my Numerologist Cabal had died. If they died, he would have gotten 12 points to my 14. So yeah. It could have gone either way, and...frankly, his rolls were garbage to the point he threw his dice to the bin, and I don't blame him.

Still, it was a nice victory for one of the many skirmishes that took place in Prospero, so yay! Great work, Thousand Sons and Imperial Knights!

A Bloody Battle

I was trying to teach my friend Horus Heresy today, so we had a 3,000 point game of Imperial Knights (and Mechanicum) versus Blood Angels. It was fun, and it wasn't as one-sided as the usual 9th edition games are (which usually just end in 1 or 2 turns).

To make things simple (since this was his very first Horus Heresy game ever), we played Blood Feud on a Dawn of War deployment zone, and he went first. I had to put together a list from his available models and write one for him, and it looked something like this:

Zephon Dominion, the Bringer of Sorrows

Librarian Consul in Tartaros Terminator armor

10 Cataphractii Terminators with power fists and 2 chain fists

5 Cataphractii Terminators with lightning claws

Contemptor Dreadnought Talon, 2 with gravis lascannons, 1 with Kheres assault cannon, all 3 with graviton gun in gravis power fist

Tactical squad

Tactical support squad with meltaguns in Rhino

Assault squad

Leviathan Dreadnought with 2 grav-flux bombards and iliastus assault cannon

Predator with flamestorm cannon

2 Predators with gravis lascannons and lascannon sponsons

Heavy support squad with 5 multi-meltas

I think that was pretty much it. Whoops, now that I think about it, there should only be 3 Heavy Support slots, not 4, so I screwed up with building his list. Never mind...

My list was the standard Knight list with the Questoris Knight Seneschal with thermal cannon, 4 Armigers Warglaive, Cerastus Knight Lancer Dolorus, and then Mechanicum allies with an Archmagos Macrotek, 2 Tech-priests Auxilia with their servo-automata, and 4 Armigers Knight Moirax - 2 with a pair of grav pulsars, and 2 with a pair of lightning locks.

My opponent rolled poorly during his shooting phase, and I believe his Predators and Contemptor Dreadnoughts only took two wounds off one of my Armigers Moirax, which I simply healed back up with my Tech-priest Auxilia during my turn. I was also rolling very well with my invulnerable saves, rolling 2 6s against the lascannons for one shot. That was just insane. In any event, he didn't roll very well, and I proceeded to move all my Knights up the table. Despite shooting a lot of haywire grav and rending lightning locks, I didn't kill any of the Contemptor Dreadnoughts or the Predator tanks that the haywire grav scattered into. They took a few wounds here and there, but that was about it.

I did manage to blow up a Rhino with two of my Armigers Warglaive, which the melta support squad spilled out from, and then my Knight Errant shot them off the board with his Stormspear missile pod and heavy stubbers. My opponent rolled a 1 and a 2 for the heavy stubber shots...and the 2 survivors (after the Stormspear missiles) promptly died. Ugh.

A combination of melta from my Knight Errant's thermal lance, a couple of thermal spears from my other 2 Armigers Warglaives, and the shock lance from my Knight Lancer killed a couple of Cataphractii Terminators, and my Knight Lancer charged in. It took his lance and a couple of stomps to slowly whittle the Terminators down, but their 4++ invulnerable saves made them really tanky.

He continued to shoot my guys, with his Predator flaming two of my servo-automata to death. His assault squad and Zephon Deep Struck, only to scatter right into my Tech-priest Auxilia and his servo-automata entourage and suffer a Deep Strike mishap. I promptly put them less than 18" away from the Tech-priest Auxilia and right next to my Armiger Warglaive. Then my Knight Errant Seneschal fired an Interceptor reaction to blow up 7 of the assault marines. Heh. Yes, Seneschal gives super-heavy Knights the ability to perform Reactions even though they normally can't. And I get an extra reaction during the shooting phase.

Zephon and the Assault Marines charged my Armiger Warglaive, dealing maybe a wound or two to him with Shred? The Dreadnoughts continued to shoot my units, and my Knight Errant took 3 hull points worth of damage from both a lascannon shot and the Leviathan Dreadnought's grav-flux bombard. The Cataphractii Terminators failed to wound my Knight Lancer, and even when the lightning claws Cataphractii Terminators charged him, they didn't do much because...quite frankly, they needed Rending to even do anything, and they couldn't get those rolls.

I finally killed a Contemptor Dreadnought with grav, and the explosion damaged a Predator tank. I eventually managed to kill 2 Predator tanks with grav, while the lightning locks damaged a second Contemptor Dreadnought. The Armigers Warglaives failed to wound the Dreadnoughts, though the Knight Errant actually took a wound off the third Contemptor Dreadnought, leaving him with 1 wound. His Stormspear missiles did nothing to a Predator, though. The Knight Lancer continued to kill the Cataphractii Terminators, but he failed to finish off the first squad, leaving just one guy after the shock lance, though the Armigers Warglaive charged in and killed maybe 2 or 3 lightning claws Cataphractii Terminators, who promptly failed morale and ran away. Whoops. Oh, at initiative 1, the Knight Lancer finished off the last surviving Cataphractii Terminator with his stomps. He was so dead. The Armigers Warglaive failed to sweeping advance the fleeing Cataphractii Terminators, though. Yikes.

At this point, my opponent forfeited. We were running out of time (the store was about to close), and he only managed to kill 2 servo-automata, failed to destroy any of my Armigers or Knights, whereas I had killed 1 squad of Cataphractii Terminators, 1 Rhino, 1 melta support tactical squad, 1 Contemptor Dreadnought and 2 Predators. Oh, well. I understood his frustration, but he did have 2 Contemptor Dreadnoughts, 1 Leviathan Dreadnought, the heavy support multimelta squad, and a Predator left. If the game went on, he might be able to finally kill a couple of Armigers. But yeah, I was clearly in the lead.

Anyway, it was a good learning experience for my friend, who finally had a taste of what Horus Heresy is about. Hopefully, we can get another game next week, but this time I'll bring my Thousand Sons instead. Or Imperial Fists. I don't know. As I said, we'll see! Until then!

Heart of the Swarm

"All right, men!" Colonel Ikeda barked as he brought his Shadowsword, Tenken, into position. A block away, Mizuno and the Leman Russ Executioner tank he commanded, Taiyou, rumbled into cover, the plasma destroyer turret tracking the shadowy shapes that flitted toward them.

"Hurry! Get into cover! Hustle!" Shirakawa ordered his squad as they sprinted across a clearing and slid into a broken hab block. Major Murakami followed close behind, overseeing his men. Above the running infantry, three Armored Sentinels stalked ahead, their plasma cannons glowing in the dark.

Unfortunately, a massive shadow fell upon them. Spreading its wings, the Hive Tyrant shrieked as it descended, psychic shockwaves bombarding their position. One of the Armored Sentinels staggered, battered by empyric energies that caused its mechanical legs to buckle. While the pilot fought to maintain the walker's balance, a volley of acid from a Tyranid Warrior's Venom Cannon splattered across his canopy, causing the entire machine to topple over.

"No!" Ueda yelled, pivoting to fire at the swooping Hive Tyrant, but his plasma missed completely as it glided past the hab block and out of his sight. On the opposite district, Mizuno cursed when a concentrated burst of psychic power from a Maleceptor and three Zoanthropes punched holes through the adamantium plating of his Leman Russ Executioner tank. Taiyou seemed to groan for a moment, but after a scary moment, it held.

"Phew." Mizuno breathed in relief, wincing when venom cannons and splinters assailed the armored plating, but to no avail. Taiyou roared as it dug into reverse, the driver trying his best to evade the corrosive shots from the advancing Tyranids.

"Incoming!" Murakami bellowed, only to be swatted aside as the Hive Tyrant landed in his position. He hit the ground and rolled, his refractor field shimmering when its claws raked across the protective barrier. It failed for a moment and the claws tore out a bunch of flesh and muscle from his chest. The major roared in agony as he fell, his flak armor falling at his feet to expose grievous wounds. Desperately, he punched out with his power fist, but the disruptive energies dispersed uselessly against the triumphantly snarling Hive Tyrant.

However, to his immense relief, he was somehow still alive. Stifling a groan, he crawled back to his feet and fell back while the Hive Tyrant continued to loom above him. It snarled and readied to finish him off, a bone-scythe raised to slash at him.

Then Tenken opened fire.

The volcano cannon erupted in a blinding ray of destructive light, the superheated beam lancing through the Hive Tyrant and all but vaporizing it. Despite coalescing its psychic might into a barrier, the shield was smashed instantly by the sheer violence of the volcano cannon, and almost half of it was vaporized. With an ominous screech, the Hive Tyrant fell.

Somehow, it was still alive, falling to a knee as it snarled and spat. Shirakawa rallied his shocked squad.

"Fire! Hit the damned thing with everything you've got!"

"Take aim!" Murakami ordered, directing both the infantry squad and the surviving Armored Sentinels. Las-beams peppered the Hive Tyrant as it tried to rear up, only flaking scales off its exoskeleton but doing no real damage. The plasma gun, plasma pistol and meltagun were deflected off the remains of the psychic shield that covered the Hive Tyrant like a ravaged cocoon. Though shattered by Tenken's volcano cannon, enough empyric energies remained to guard the monster from small arms fire.

Meanwhile, Ueda and the other Sentinel pilot fired at the charging Termagaunts, vaporizing about four of them. On the other side, Mizuno barked another order, and Taiyou fired. Three Tyranid Warriors ceased to exist, their bodies melted to slag by superheated plasma. A las-beam from the hull lascannon scored a glowing gouge acrossing the snarling Maleceptor, but it otherwise survived.

Tenken boomed again, the two lascannons lancing futilely against the Maleceptor. Meanwhile, thousands of mass-reactives detonated against the hovering Zoanthropes, showering them with so much shrapnel that two of them were torn apart. Not paying much attention to the targets, Ikeda focused his attention on the severely wounded Hive Tyrant.

"Drive me closer! I want to hit it with my sword!" He coughed. "I mean, crush it!"

The Shadowsword rammed into the reeling Hive Tyrant, and the great beast keeled over. At Ikeda's urging, the drive floored the accelerator and ran over the fallen Hive Tyrant, crushing it under the adamantium tracks of the super-heavy tank.

The Tyranids were only stirred into a greater frenzy by the death of their leader beast, and surged forward. The Termagaunts fired flesh-borers into the dodging guardsmen, but thanks to Shirakawa's command, they dove into cover behind walls and pillars. Two of the soldiers screamed as they were eaten alive by the hideous flesh-worms that swam in the fluid bombardments of the advancing creatures. Meanwhile, the Neurothrope had taken command of the swarm now that the Hive Tyrant was dead, and it gathered its might to hammer one of the Sentinels to near death. Even as the walker stumbled, the Tyranid Warriors finished it off with a slew of venom cannon fire before charging Ueda. Despite his valiant efforts, they cut him down with their boneswords and closed in on the infantry squad.

"Do not falter!"

Marshalling his squad, Shirakawa led by example and swung his power sword. The rest fixed bayonets and stabbed at the Tyranid Warriors, even as Murakami Heroically Intervened and punched one of them with his power fist. It cried and fell, its carapace cracked by the disruption field.

On the other side, Mizuno was not as lucky. Despite reversing at full speed, Taiyou found itself charged by the Maleceptor, who carved through its plating with its huge scything claws. Already damaged heavily from a second psychic onslaught from the beast and the sole surviving Zoanthrope from earlier, the venerable Leman Russ Executioner tank could no longer endure and it fell apart, the crew spilling from its hatches and fleeing while the Maleceptor continued to tear it apart.

"Kill it," Ikeda said grimly, not caring that Taiyou was in the way. Tenken agreed in a roar, the volcano cannon erupting once more and erasing the Malceptor from existence. The lascannons followed suit, and though the psychic barrier generated by the Neurothrope stopped one of the ruby beams, the second one burst its oversized brain like a fruit, spilling noxious fluids and ichor onto the ground. For a second, the Neurothrope continued to float in the air...and then it finally fell over.

The triple twin heavy bolters barked, but despite showering the sole surviving Zoanthrope with thousands of mass reactives, the foul xeno withstood the explosive barrage with pure psychic will. With a chatter, it smashed an idol of the Emperor over, razing it to the ground as it continued to bear down on the beleaguered guardsmen. Not waiting for it to close in, Ikeda turned his attention to the infantry squad and Major Murakami, who were about to be butchered by the Tyranid Warriors.

"Charge!" He yelled, and Tenken lurched forward. There was another thud and the Tyranid Warriors were run over by the super-heavy, even as Murakami and the squad scattered to avoid being trampled upon by their own allies. The major cursed and shook his power fist at the rolling Tenken.

"Watch it!"

"Sorry. But would you rather get disemboweled by the 'nids instead?"

"It wouldn't make a difference if I get disemboweled or crushed if I'm dead either way!"

Ikeda agreed inwardly that it would be a gruesome way to die, but he couldn't do anything about it for now. Instead, he glanced at the auspexes and saw that the Termagaunt were clambering over a statue of a revered Saint. In their haste to close the gap with the human defenders, they had overrun the precints of the shrine the Draconians were protecting, and were crawling over the debris.

"It's not over yet. Fire!"

"Take aim!" Murakami yelled, and the exhausted soldiers raised their lasguns, meltagun and plasma gun before firing. The Termagaunts were bathed in las-fire, melta and plasma, cut apart to shreds by the overwhelming sledgehammer of the Imperial Guard.

While the infantry took care of the Tyranid swarm, Ikeda focused on the Zoanthrope. The twin heavy bolters spoke once more, shelling the wounded psychic beast. This time, despite throwing up another psychic shield, it could no longer withstand a second onslaught and it was ripped to pieces by the sheer volume of shrapnel that pierced its barrier. As it faltered and died, Ikeda let out a sigh of relief.

"We've successfully defended Hamlicar from the Tyranids, but if they keep throwing bodies at us, we'll get overwhelmed eventually. At this rate, we're going to lose in a battle of attrition."

He glanced upward at the ominously glowing heavens, the night sky filled with eerie lights of invading xenos and foul magicks of traitors and heretics. Making the sign of the Aquila, he prayed silently.

"May the Emperor watch over us all."

Ardgit Redaxe's Ambition

 "Wot's dis?" Ardgit Redaxe growled as he listened to the grot manning his heavy slugga above his mega-armor. He couldn't remember the grot's name, and couldn't be bothered. The git wasn't important, not to his grand schemes of conquest. What it was babbling, though, was a whole another matter. "Wot do ya mean, Blitzog krumped a humie supa-heavy tank?!"

This wouldn't do. As a rival warboss, Redaxe couldn't allow that git, Blitzog, to upstage him. Hamlicar was his to conquer, not that ursurper. He was gonna show the evil Evil Sunz who was the real boss around here.

"Let's go!" He roared, raising his mega choppa and shaking it angrily. "We ain't gonna let that Blitzog git get one over us! We iz gonna do better and get ourselves a humie supa-heavy tank too! WAAAGH!"

Gathering a fearsome force of Beastsnagga Boyz that had joined his growing Waaagh!, Redaxe led the charge. Clouds of smoke filled the air as the warbikers charged forward, their riders whooping and yelling excitedly. Opposite them, the Squighogz Boys galloped forward, the greenskins whipping their pink steeds into a loping run. Their Nob on a squighoz led the charge, keeping his Boyz in line. Behind them, a Kill Rig trundled idly, the Weirdboy manning it chanting something incoherent. Redaxe couldn't understand what the weirdo was muttering about. Probably communing with Mork or summat. Ain't his business.

All he needed to know was that the hocus pocus of the Weirdboy worked.

Then the Kill Rig exploded forcefully, bowing over the Nob on the Squig and dealing a couple of mortal wounds to him. The Nob being a Nob, simply shrugged off lethal injuries that would have laid low a pathetic humie and got back onto his sqealing squig.

"Wot iz zat about?!"

Nobody answered him. The Nob scowled and turned to his Squighogz Boyz, ready to give them a good krumpin' for ignoring him, for he was the Nob and Nobs don't get ignored by no dumb gitz. However, his jaw dropped.

The Squighogz Boys were...gone.

Instead, smoldering remains of green puddles and ashes scattered about, the aftermath of a searing plasma blast having reduced the poor Boyz to nothing.

"Where did zey all go?!" He demanded.

Opposite the charging Ork Waaagh!, the stalwart men of the Draconis Imperial Guard regiment stood. Or rather, sat within the armored confines of their venerable tanks and walkers.

"I thought this was going to be an uneventful holiday, but looks like the Orks are out to ruin our festive plans," Colonel Ikeda grumbled. The Emperor's New Year was due to be celebrated later that evening, but as punishment for their defeat at the klaws of Blitzog earlier, the 4th regiment of the Draconian Defenders had been posted as sentries in the outskirts of Hamlicar. Ikeda clenched his fists. "We may have lost the last time, but we shall not be found wanting tonight! Men of Draconis, we fight!"

"Yes, sir!"

Tenken rumbled forward, its plasma blastgun-turned-volcano cannon erupting in an incadescent beam of destructive fury. A ramshackle contraption, with some Weirdboy on top whipping a large squig, vanished in an explosion. Beside the Stormblade-turned-Shadowsword, the venerable Leman Russ Executioner, Taiyou, added to the thunder of Tenken's many guns. Plasma seared through the air and vaporized a trio of Squighogz Boyz.

The plasma cannons bellowed, spitting superheated death at the Boyz running in the open. The Greenskins were so caught up in their bloodlust that they were running ahead of their Warboss, only for over half of them to vanish. The twin heavy bolters of Tenken chattered, firing mass reactives at the Warbikers, but the skilled greenskin riders swerved and dodged, making good use of their cloud of smoke to obscure their bikes. One of the bikes disintegrated when a shell detonated within its mechanism, hurling its shrieking rider into the dirt. The poor Ork hit the ground with a thud and didn't move, even its legendary resilience helpless against a snapped spine and shattered skeleton.

Ueda's Armored Sentinels opened fire, the plasma cannons catching more of the Orks and obliterating the Boyz. The sole survivor broke when he saw the ashy remnants of his comrade, and fled.

"Stop!" Redaxe hollered. He shook his head in disgust and gestured to the grot on his shoulder.

"Yes, boss!" The grot swiveled the slugga about and shot the running Boy in the head. The greenskin tumbled over, his skull split open like ripe fruit. Redaxe sneered at the deserter and returned his attention to the approaching super-heavy tank.

"Ya iz mine! Blitzog ain't the only one capable of krumpin' humie tanks! I don't care how big ya iz!"

Despite the violent demise of the Kill Rig, the Beastsnagga Boyz hitching a ride in it miraculously survived the flames, shaking the embers off their thick hide and patting out ablaze leather as they tore their way free. While they did so, the Kommandoes struck.

Unfortunately, Sergeant Shirakawa had spotted them.

"You aren't gonna fool me again!" he snapped, pointing his plasma pistol at the supposedly stealthy Kommandoes.

"Take aim!" Major Murakami ordered, rushing forward. The Draconian infantry hefted their lasguns, sniper rifle, plasma gun and meltagun up, waiting for the Kommandoes to sneak within range before they scythed them down with a barrage of las, plasma and melta. The Kommandoes fell back, routed, only for Ueda's Sentinal squadron to hunt them down. With buzzing chainsaws, they cut the fleeing Kommandoes apart, though a desperate Kommando smashed a breacher round into one of the Sentinels, causing it to buckle. A bombsquig threw itself at the already teetering Sentinel before detonating.

"Hey!" The Sentinel pilot yelled, his walker swaying unsteadily on scorched legs. "What the hell was that thing?!"

"Quit your whining and keep your eyes up front!" Ueda commanded, only for the Nob on squig to ram right into the damaged Sentinel, bowling it over and wrecking it. Ueda tried to call for support, but Ikeda had problems of his own. A Deff Dread had just emerged from a building to careen right into Tenken, its power klaws digging deeply into the ablative plating of the venerable Shadowsword. Not to be outdone, Redaxe charged in and buried his axe into the front armor, sending a shower of sparks.

"Ya iz mine now!" He crowed.

"I'm not going to lose a Shadowsword twice!" Ikeda snapped. "Driver, reverse!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Mizuno, cover fire!"

"Uh, I'm busy right now, boss." Sergeant Mizuno was struggling to maintain calm in the crew compartment of Taiyou, which had just been smacked by a couple of Warbikers. They pummeled the thick armor of the Leman Russ Executioner, with little effect, but the tank was unable to run them over. While Taiyou struggled to back away, the front edge of the Leman Russ clipped a warbiker and sent it spinning into the dirt.

"Watch it!" The Ork yelled, waving his fist futilely at the reversing Taiyou.

"Crush them!" Ikeda shouted back, and Tenken lurched forward, the adamantium tracks colliding against Ardgit Redaxe with a crunch and sending the warboss toppling back. Fortunately for the Warboss, his mega-armor held, and he wasn't squished outright by hundreds of tons of adamantium and ceramite.

"I iz tough as nails!" He roared defiantly as he struggled to his feet, the grot hanging onto the slugga desperately. "Ya cannot kill me with zat!"

Ikeda ignored the dude for now and instead ordered Tenken to fall back. The volcano cannon erupted once more, and the Deff Dread vanished in a blinding explosion. Lascannons spat ruby beams, but Redaxe's mega-armor withstood barrages that would have felled a tank, a shimmering kustom force field enfolding him in a bubble.

"Hah! If ya want to beat me, ya gonna have to do it the 'ard way! In good ol' fashion combat!"

One of the Warbikers was caught by a stray mass-reactive shell from the rumbling twin heavy bolters and turned into a mist of blood, but the Nob deftly pulled his bike away, turning to charge the Shadowsword at the same time as his warboss. Redaxe bellowed in triumph when his kustom force field actually blocked a hasty volcano cannon blast, the anti-Titan weaponry sizzling ineffectively against his mega-armor.

"I told ya! Ya cannot kill me with gunz and dakka! For I iz da best! Better than that git, Blitzog! Waaagh!"

"Where is my Sentinel support?!" Ikeda yelled, trying to have Tenken retreat from the near immortal Ardgit Redaxe. "Ueda!!!"

"Uh, I'm getting slaughtered here myself," Ueda said tersely. The Beastsnagga Boyz had snagged the other Sentinel in his squadron and brought it down with choppas. Even though their deadly chainsaws had cleaved a trio in return, they were getting overwhelmed by the whooping and jeering Beastsnagga Boyz.

Until Major Murakami intervened.

His power fist glowed a deep blue before it punched a hole through a stunned Ork's chest. The others turned to face him, but another Beastsnagga Boy had his head obliterated by a hook. Darting out of the way to avoid a second choppa slash, Murakami lashed out and tore out the heart of a third Boy, causing him to fall to his knees, gurgling in blood.

"I learned from the Catachans themselves!" The major yelled triumphantly. "It doesn't matter if you are Orks or Traitor Marines! I'm gonna punch your lights out!"

"Ya gotta be kiddin' me! We iz not gonna lose to humies like zis!" One of the Beastsnagga Boyz yelped in frustration, only to have his head taken out by a chainsaw. Ueda spun around, his Sentinel almost flying through the air, before the buzzing chainsaw carved through the Nob on a squig. The Nob's mouth gaped as his head transformed into mush, and the squig wailed as its spine was severed by the grinding weapon. It flopped on the ground before being stomped to oblivion.

"Dis iz not good..." The remaining Beastsnagga Boy murmured, backing away.

"Don't run, ya gitz!" Redaxe roared, undeterred by the intimidating silhouette of the Shadowsword. He charged once more, swinging his axe and cleaving an entire track guard off. Sparks flew from the Shadowsword, promethium bleeding from cut pipes.

"Not again!" Ikeda groaned, clenching his fists as he stood in his cupola. "Just crush that damned Ork already! I'm not going to lose my Tenken to another greenskin barbarian who thinks he can tear apart a super-heavy tank with nothing more than a giant axe!"

With a thunderous bellow, Tenken charged forth once more, and this time the venerable Shadowsword finally crushed the shrieking Redaxe beneath its adamantium tracks.

"No! NOOO! Dis can't be! I iz as good as Blitzog! I can't die like dis! Ya gotta be kiddin' me!"

Redaxe thrashed violently underneath Tenken before he disappeared, his mega-armor chewed apart by the sheer weight and bulk of the super-heavy.

The sole surviving Warbiker nob and the tattered remains of the Beastsnagga Boyz looked at each other for a second before they promptly spun around and fled. Ikeda watched them go and raised a hand.

"Don't pursue. I repeat, don't pursue." He sighed. "We're pulling back. Don't forget, we're having fireworks tonight to celebrate the New Year."

As the battered armor regiment of the Draconians returned wearily to their fortress-bunker, there was a slight movement from the crumpled mega-armor.

"Boss? Iz ya all right?" The grot sqawked, carefully running its hands over the dented metal. There was another tremor, and then the mega-armor burst open.

"Does I look all right to ya?!" A bloodied Ardgit Redaxe snapped, limping out of his ruined mega-armor. The grot shrieked and ran off, cowering behind a totaled warbike. Muttering to himself, Redaxe wiped the blood off his misshapen face. "I iz gotta find a Painboy. And den I will get my revenge on those damned humies! I iz not inferior to that git Blitzog! If he can do dis, den I can too!"

Using the broken shaft of his once glorious big choppa for support, the warboss disappeared into the night, his beady red eyes shining with vengeful fury.