Cerastus Knight Castigator

It took me several months, but I finally assembled my Cerastus Knight Castigator! He's for House Yato, so I will paint him black and gold. Can't wait to see how he will turn out, and before long, he will be marching alongside my other Knights of House Yato!

Damn, I have more Knights to ship back to Singapore now. Oh, well. Worth it.

Pariah Nexus Chapter Approved Crusade

I finally managed to procure a copy of White Dwarf #502...and I bought it for none other than the Crusade rules! Issue 502 has a small segment on how to run a Crusade with the Pariah Nexus Chapter Approved deck, in case you didn't want to buy a copy of the Pariah Nexus Crusade campaign book released earlier this year. If you instead bought the Chapter Approved deck for the new Pariah Nexus season (after Leviathan), and don't really want to play tournaments or whatever, you can try using it for Crusade!

First thing to note if you choose to play Crusade with the Pariah Nexus Chapter Approved mission pack - you don't select Agendas as usual. Instead, we play Secondary Missions - or Tactical Missions - and units that help you score victory points for those gain EP. Also, we can only do Tactical Missions and not Fixed ones.

The battle sequence is the same as everything else - if you're familiar with how Crusade games or even Matched Play games are played, nothing here is new. Like Crusade, though, we have Requisitions and Crusade Blessings, but unlike normal Crusade games, we have Secret Missions now! If you're behind in Primary Mission victory points, or have the same but are in a situation where you feel you won't be able to score any more, you can choose Secret Missions, which add flavor to your Crusade games!

This means you can't score more than 20 for Primary, and I think Secret Mission awards you a maximum of 20 victory points, so you'll give away 10 VP by default (so strategize accordingly by scoring both Secret Mission objectives and denying your opponent VP). It also throws a curveball in the narrative, which is cool!

Crusade Blessings are back, and while you have the standard High Strategy that gives you 2 CP, you also have stuff that buffs your Battleline units, giving them Stealth (not much help for me because I already play Skitarii Hunter Cohort), or allowing them to shoot/charge when they Fell Back (now we're talking). Not bad! Also, in broader terms, give up to 3 units Scout (allowing my Onager Dunecrawlers to scout with my Skitarii Rangers) or Ignores Cover when shooting at an enemy on a specific objective marker (not beneficial for my Skitarii Rangers with omnispex, but good for my Ironstrider Ballistarii and Onager Dunecrawlers without phosphor weapons).

There's also a specific set of pre-prepared missions: 12. They pair specific Deployments with Primary Missions and Mission Rules, so it's not as random as before, but still pretty cool.

Remember when I said you can gain XP from Secondary Missions? Depending on the Secondary Mission you draw, you can select a corresponding unit from your army to gain XP according to this table. Really cool!

We also have specific Crusade Relics, so yay! But you can just take the normal Battle Honors from your Faction's codex, and I prefer to do that anyway.

Last of all, we also have Victor Bonuses that vary depending on how much more points you have over your opponent! The 1 extra Requisition point looks like a pretty sweet one, not gonna lie! And if you win by 15 points or more, then you get to increase your Supply Limit by 300 points - more than the 200 points that a Requisition point grants you. Awesome!

Are you looking forward to playing Crusade with your Pariah Nexus Chapter Approved deck? If you can't get the cards, don't worry. In future, during a new season, I'll update this post with pictures featuring the Chapter Approved cards for the Missions, Deployments, etc., but that's only after the season for Pariah Nexus is over, and the Chapter Approved decks for it are no longer in production. For now, though, I'll respect IP rules and stuff. All I can say is that I'll try to make my blog as conducive for Crusade as possible! Narrative over Matched Play! Yay!

Tanks versus Gunships

Colonel Ikeda gulped when he saw the skies darken with the silhouettes of Legiones Astartes gunships. Apparently, Praetor William Roberts of the Emperor's Children had dispatched his airborne company to take the hive-world of Bertual by force. From his auspex, he counted three Fire Raptors, three Thunderhawk gunships and plenty of Storm Eagle gunships.

They clearly aimed to assault the Loyalists' Stronghold on Bertual. This wasn't good. Ikeda's armored company had pushed in to take the field, but they were clearly outgunned by the Fire Raptors and Thunderhawks, never mind the Storm Eagles. One of the Storm Eagles had already landed to disgorge a tactical company, along with Praetor Roberts' personal retinue.

More streamed toward the tanks, one Thunderhawk dropping to a hover as forty Terminators dropped out right next to Tanaka's Cerastus Knight Lancer banner, their storm bolters ineffectually detonating against the pair of Knights' ion shields. The Thunderhawk, 4 Leviathan Dreadnoughts and plasma tactical squad that dropped out of a storm eagle fared better, destroying one of the Knights with a barrage of plasma, even as the four Leman Russ Vanquisher tanks damaged one of the Storm Eagles with a lucky shot.

Meanwhile, Assault Marines bounded out of a Storm Eagle to hammer toward a lasrifle tercio that had just disembarked from a pair of Dracosans. They fired overwatch, flamers and las taking out a couple of squads before the rest of the Assault Marines were upon them, butchering the infantry with chainswords. However, the Solar Auxilia stood strong, the Ryusei Katanas grouping in close fighting formations to bring down their power armored foes as best as they could.

A second tactical squad had also dropped out, their boltguns pummeling the hab block that one of the lasrifle tercios had taken cover in, even as a third Fire Raptor erased Major Murakami's command squad from existence with its Avenger gatling cannon. The other two had pursued four Lightning Fighters, destroying them with lascannons and missiles before the mortal pilots could intercept them.

The Malcodor Valdors fired, their shock pulse neutron laser shaking a Thunderhawk, but it remained aloft, while another fired at the Baneblades, but they were out of range. Another fired at the Malcador Valdors, but they survived the salvo, thankfully. The Dracosans fired back, taking out a couple of Storm Eagles, while the third Dracosan with a demolisher cannon blasted the tactical squad at the front to bits.

The Baneblades finally moved up, and with concentrated fire, they dropped one Thunderhawk, causing it to crash. Ikeda breathed a sigh of relief, shaking his head in dismay when he saw they had only taken down two aircrafts, but lost a Knight. At least they hadn't lost all their tanks...yet.

But that would change shortly. With their passengers disembarked, the gunships took off to the skies to maintain aerial superiority, which they now surely possessed because the Lightnings were downed.

This is bad, Ikeda realized. We're screwed.

Tanaka did a last ditch effort to charge into the tactical squad at the far end, killing half of them with a sweep of his spear, but his Knight suit was obliterated in turbo-laser fire as the Thunderhawk and plasma gunners bombarded his position. Ikeda swore when he saw the Knight go down, but he was relieved to see the Leman Russ Vanquishers destroy the already damaged Storm Eagle from before.

Meanwhile, the Baneblades and Malcador Valdors destroyed all of the Leviathan Dreadnoughts with coordinated fire, while the sponson autocannons hammered the Terminators who had garrisoned a nearby hab-block. Even dreadnought tactical armor couldn't handle the thousands of shells that rained upon them, with several of them taken out and crushed under falling rubble.

The surviving Ryuusei Katana infantry piled in and charged the Assault Marines, and though more were scythed down by screaming chainswords, the weight of their numbers began to tell, and they annihilated the Assault Marines with pointblank las-fire and power katanas. Their accompanying Dracosan's demolisher cannon thundered, but missed. Fortunately, a second Dracosan killed the remnants of the tactical squad with a well-aimed lascannon shot.

However, the Storm Eagles and Fire Raptors continued to dominate the skies, and missiles shrieked from above, blowing up the Malcador Valdors and a couple of Dracosans. Ikeda felt his heart sink when he saw his dwindling number of tanks. Even worse, the Fire Raptors' heavy bolters cut down the triumphant Ryuusei Katana just after they had taken down the Assault Marines, leaving just 5 men.

"We're dying out here!" He cursed, slamming a fist against the console in the commander's seat. One of his Baneblades exploded when the turbo laser destructor of a Thunderhawk tore through it, sending shrapnel against his super-heavy tank, and he slumped against his seat.

There was nothing he could do against the Emperor's Children. They truly were scoring a flawless victory.

"We have to hold out for as long as we can," Ikeda muttered, recalling the Praetorian's orders. Rogal Dorn had ordered the Ryusei Katanas and House Yato to hold Bertual, but he no longer had the forces to hold it.

The Emperor's Children's aircraft circled and swooped down on his tanks, picking them off one by one. Ikeda's Baneblade was wreecked by a Thunderhawk's turbo-laser destructor, but the Leman Russ Vanquishers were able to snipe two Fire Raptors that had hovered over the last infantry's position, to try and snatch the objective from them. Though the infantry were taken out, so were the Fire Raptors - with the two remaining Dracosans turning around to fire at the third Fire Raptor and Storm Eagle hovering above them. Unable to jink, the gunships took las-shots and demolisher shells right in the cockpits and blew up, their wreckage smashing into the ruins of the hab-block.

Though a single Thunderhawk hovered next to them, its weapons missing entirely, the Ryusei Katanas controlled the objective.

However, before the Emperor's Children could press their advantage, the gunships suddenly took off, their surviving infantry loading up on them.

"What on Holy Terra...?" Ikeda murmured in bewilderment, crawling out of his wrecked Baneblade to watch the purple gunships take off. At least two Thunderhawks and two Storm Eagles still remained, and a whole load of Terminators, half a tactical squad and Praetor Roberts's command squad themselves. Another few minutes and they would have completely annihilated the Ryuusei Katanas.

So why had the Emperor's Children pulled out?

...then Ikeda saw why. The skies had darkened, with stars sparkling above in the heavens. Massive stars...no, constellations...no, starships.

The vessels of the Dark Angels had arrived, and they were beginning to cleanse Bertual of life with pinpoint orbital bombardments. The Emperor's Children, realizing that they couldn't match the first Legion's fleet, had withdrawn because they realized they wouldn't be able to take Bertual in time before the Dark Angels obliterated the whole planet.

"Hey, the Lords of the First Legion do realize we're still on the planet, right?" Ikeda protested before the city he had defended with his sub-cohort's life disintegrated under lance strikes and cyclonic warheads.

Exalted Sorcerer

I assembled an Exalted Sorcerers, yay! Makhat is back to help Ignatius!

That works, I think. Can't wait to field them for Crusade tomorrow!

5 more Scarab Occult Terminators

I assembled 5 more Scarab Occult Terminators! Now I have a 10 men squad of Terminators. Yay!

Now my Crusade force is pretty much complete! Just 1 more Exalted Sorcerers and I'm done!

Deathwing Dream

So...I had another dream this morning about Warhammer 40,000. And this time, I dreamed that I was a member of the Deathwing, a Space Marine from the Dark Angels Chapter. I suspect it's because I'm currently reading Gav Thorpe's Legacy of Caliban series, having already completed Ravenwing and Master of Sanctity, and am halfway into The Unforgiven, but yeah, it was a...weird dream.

For some reason, as a Terminator, I was dispatched to eliminate cells of Chaos-worshipping Cultists, and after getting rid of a bunch of Cultists and Nurgle Daemons (?), I returned to a Chapter Keep somewhere in a secret basement of a house (I know, it's weird) to get my Terminator armor removed. After that, I went to talk to my battle-brothers of the Deathwing, and apparently, we were looking for the mastermind behind some Chaos uprising in the system or sector. We were discussing on how we were being played like chess pieces - this being Warhammer 40,000, it should be Regicide, but...yeah, dreams are weird. Anyway, we somehow came to the conclusion that the mastermind was a Great Unlcean One, some greater Daemon that's inspiring all these rebellions and cults.

Don't ask me why, it was a weird dream.

Anyway, we couldn't find the mastermind, and the conversation devolved into...finding Cypher, getting into contact with him somehow, and making use of him to find the Greater Daemon. Obviously, my battle brothers aren't happy about that, considering he's like the Arch-Fallen or something and can't be trusted, but this little line came up that amused me greatly.

To persuade my battle-brothers, I basically said, "We're going to ask the unclean one, Cypher, to help us find the Great Unclean One. We'll get him to do the dirty work."

They were convinced, and I set out to find Cypher. I dunno why, but I was heading to an armory with Ravenwing bikes though the Tactical Dreadnought Armor there was in the bone-white of the Deathwing. It was weird. Before I could actually put on the armor and ride the bike...I woke up.

Seriously.

Not gonna lie, that was amusing. Both Warhammer 40,000 and my puns are haunting me in my dreams now.

Painted Dracosans and Lightnings

I painted my Dracosans and Lightnings today in preparation for next week's Legion Imperialis game. This means no Crusade today, but at least I got some painting done.

My Solar Auxilia mechanized infantry sub cohort is now fully painted. Yay!

Thousand Sons automata in 40K

Now you might be wondering why I'm assembling a small Thousand Sons Crusade force at this weird time, after selling the previous one a long time ago. Yeah, my Horus Heresy Thousand Sons are still around. Not selling them, at least I don't think so.

Anyway, I was bringing back Ignatius for the 41st millennium because of new developments in the Parah Nexus storyline. As you know, Ignatius is basically my Sorcerer in Terminator armor and the commander of my Thousand Sons armies both in Horus Heresy and modern 40K. In the past - and I'm bringing them back for the present - he was followed by Chronos the Infernal Master, Makhat and Egnis the Exalted Sorcerers, Acastus and Tukhan the sergeants turned Aspiring Sorcerers, and Hathor Mathias, a Scarab Occult Terminator who's in charge of both the Heresy-era Cataphractii Terminators and Scarab Occult Terminators.

Ignatius, a member of the Order of Ruin, used to lead armies of Castellax-Achea psyker-automata during the Horus Heresy, fighting in the defense of the Emperor and as a Loyalist. However, he was often turned against by other Loyalists, and sometimes his fellowship was forced to fight alongside other Traitors just to survive.

In the 41st millennium, he ends up in a situation where he has no choice but to throw his lot in with Chaos, even if he's an unwilling follower of Tzeentch. He assists Ahzek Ahriman whenever necessary. He still has access to ancient Contemptor-Osiron Dreadnoughts in his arsenal, the occupants of the sacrophagus having turned to dust because of Ahriman's Rubric. He also maintains his army of psyker-automata, though the millennia have seen them...uh, Changed.

The question, though, is whether Games Workshop plans to give Thousand Sons new automata models for 10th Edition. That's the reason why I ended up assembling a small Thousand Sons force. First, I saw Chapter Master Valrak's video, and then I bought last month's White Dwarf, and apparently Magnus is unlocking ancient vaults on both Sortarius and Prospero, sending legions of long dormant daemon-automata to the Nephilim sub-sector to bring war to the Necrons in place of his debilitated Sorcerers, who suffer incredibly from the effects of their contra-immaterial nodal matrix.

So yeah! If we get automata, I'll be delighted! If not, well...with plastic Mechanicum coming up, I'll just run the Castellax battle-automata as Helbrutes and a Thanatar as a Mutalith Vortex Beast! Counts-as shouldn't be a problem - they share same base sizes anyway! Plus it gives my Thousand Sons army more personality and flavor, clinging to the old automata route!

I'll probably do the same for my Adeptus Mechanicus force, having Legio Cybernetica automata emerge in the 41st millennium from long locked archeovaults, and the Magi of Draconis IV unleashing their battle robots on the Necrons and other enemies in 10th edition! Would make for a great storyline!

Rubric Marines

I assembled 2 5-man squads of Rubric Marines for my slowly growing Crusade force. Thousand Sons need Rubric Marines, after all.

1 squad is equipped with warpflamers, while the other has inferno bolt guns. Both have soul reaper cannons and aspiring sorcerers. Yay, I guess?

So basically Ignatius is my Warlord and leading Sorcerer in Terminator armor, and he commands his subordinates, who include Chronos, the Infernal Master, Makhat and Egnis, who will be Exalted Sorcerers, and Acastus is one of the aspiring sorcerers here. Tukhan is the other. Hathor Mathias is a Scarab Occult Sorcerer. I will flesh out the rest a bit more in the future, but they will be back!

You Must Construct Additional Pylons

<Lord Archmagos,> Skitarii Marshal Sigma 44-Kariya reported to Archmagos Theta-Rho. <We have found a Necron pylon underneath the earth.>

While digging through the ground for more blackstone fragments, the servitors had discovered an immense Necron pylon, which was presumably one of the conduits for the xenos's contra-immaterial nodal matrix that was stretching over the Nephilim sub-sector. Skitarii Hunter Cohort 428-Sigma, which had been tasked to oversee the excavation of Noctilith and provide security for the dig teams, happened to be on site when the blackstone pylon was unearthed.

<Destroy it,> Theta-Rho commanded. <Disassemble the foul xenos pylon and unmake it from reality. We cannot allow them to persist with their efforts to engulf us in this fugue.>

The "fugue" being the Stilling, as the members of Battle Group Hephaestus had suffered as they pushed deeper into the Nephilim Sub-sector. 44-Kariya knew how vital his mission was to destroy this and minimize the detrimental effects.

<Understood.>

Fortunately for the Skitarii Hunter Cohort, the Necrons were still asleep in their tombs, their metallic forms dormant and deactivated. A few had inevitably awakened, but were swiftly eradicated by the esoteric weaponry that Cohort 428-Sigma carried, the Skitarii Rangers putting them down before they could muster in force.

However, a warning flared up in the noosphere, and 44-Kariya swore when he linked into one of his scouts. The accursed Drukhari and Corsairs had returned to Kuroishi once more, seeking revenge for their previous humiliation.

"You will pay for wiping us out last time!" The Archon bellowed atop his Raider, surrounded by his elite retinue of Incubi.

<Of all the time to...> 44-Kariya groaned in binharic. Battling around the Necron pylon was a confusing nightmare as overlapping dimensional oubliettes and localized teleportation corridors added to the tangled devastation already created by the pylon's emergence. Clearly, the Drukhari were using the dimensional passages to slip out from the webway to assault the Humans.

Fortunately, Skitarii Hunter Cohort 428-Sigma had already prepared for this eventuality, having calculated and estimated the probability of any future raids. At 44-Kariya's swift instructions, they hunkered down in prepared positions, ready to defend their exacavation site and their spot around the pulsing Necron pylon as the Drukhari and Corsair raiders aggressively swooped upon their position.

Two Ravagers slid from the webway, their sleek and spiky forms bristling before they opened up with their dark lances. While their exotic beams failed to penetrate the ion shields wreathing the pair of Armigers that had sallied out, the Reavers dove and opened fire with a heat lance, gouging a chunk out of the Onager Dunecrawler. The Scourges weren't as fortunate, unable to see much as they opened fire with their dark lances from afar. While Kabalite Warriors disembarked from Venoms to fire at the Skitarii Rangers, the stealthy cyborgs avoided the worst of their fire.

Kaji reacted immediately to the encroaching Kabalite Warriors, his Armiger Moirax spinning to open fire with a gout from his irad cleanser, killing three outright. The other two fired their splinter cannons ineffectively against an Onager Dunecrawler, while the second squad of Kabalite Warriors' poisoned weapons took out almost half of Skitarii Ranger squad Delta-1.

Unfortunately for Onager Dunecrawler Alpha-1, he was charged by the Archon and his Incubi, who had alighted their Raider to charge at him. Under a swirling dance of deadly blades, they scythed down Tech-priest Enginseer Magos Epsilon Mugurma before cutting the poor Onager Dunecrawler apart. Skitarii Ranger squad Alpha-1 found themselves embroiled in the desperate melee, but they managed to take out a couple of Incubi in revenge.

The Venom charging squad Delta-1 had less success, failing to knock down anybody, but the Kabalite Warriors that had decimated their squad hopped back in.

However, the Skitarii had blunted the Drukhari's ferocious assault.

<Time to fight back, fellas!> 44-Kariya crowed. <Shoot them with everything you've got!>

Despite his orders, Skitarii Ranger squad Alpha-1 fell back in good order. The Incubi made to pursue, only to be cut down by a volley of galvanic and plasma from Skitarii Ranger squad Beta-2.

Ironstrider Ballisatrii squadron 28-Tetsuo fired, but their lascannons did nothing against the Ravager. Instead, it was the second squadron, 33-Tetsuya, that destroyed a Venom with a burst of lascannons, spilling the Kabalite Warriors who had hopped into it. Sato followed their example, his Armiger Warglaive loping forward. Thanks to his ion shield protecting him from the worst of the ravages, his machine spirit stayed strong and his aim true. The meltagun did nothing, grazing ineffectually against the sleek hull of the Ravager, but the thermal spear struck home, blowing the Ravager apart.

Onager Dunecrawler Delta-1 fired, his neutron laser obliterating the floating Kronos from existence, while his cognis heavy stubbers all but erased the Kabalite Warriors that spilled from the destroyed Venom that had been taken out by 33-Tetsuya's Ironstrider squadron. Onager Dunecrawler Beta-2 had to move a little, but it was worth it as he finally had the second Ravager in his sights. With a burst of fire, his missiles and Icarus autocannon shredded the skimming ship, sending it crashing.

Kaji's volkite wasn't as powerful, failing to destroy the Venom, but he proceeded to crush it with his siege claw, and the two surviving Kabalite Warriors hopped out and dove through the wall of the hab-block that Skitarii Ranger squad Beta-2 was currently occupying, almost taking them by surprise because their attention was focused on the Incubi they had annihilated, leaving just the Archon by his lonesome.

The Mandrakes melted away into the shadows and reappeared to continue pummeling Skitarii Ranger squad Alpha-1, who surprisingly hadn't suffered any casualties...until now. The Venoms continued zooming forward, and with a powerful heat lance damaged Sato's Armiger Warglaive severely, but he hung on. The Raiders and Scourges didn't fare well, missing their dark lances, or having their anti-tank fire bounce off harmlessly from the Armigers' ion shields or the Onager Dunecrawlers' emanatus force fields. Kaji's Armiger Moirax staggered as beams from the dark lances tore through his machine, but somehow, his Hardened Defenses allowed him to survive with just a single wound remaining, rolling 5 6s out of 15 damage to survive the lethal onslaught.

"Hah! The Omnissiah protects!" Kaji yelled triumphantly, rotating his ion shield skillfully again and again to deflect incoming fire from the Raiders and the passengers aboard one of them.

"HOW?!" The Archon roared in disbelief, even as he threw himself to butcher squad Alpha-1. At least his grenade had partially wrecked 28-Tetsuo's partner, sending the Ironstrider engine stilting. And the Reavers came rushing in to assist him, though the Raider and Mandrakes failed the charge.

On the other side, the Incubi came in and slew a few more Skitarii Rangers, reducing squad Delta-1 to less than half. The four survivors fought back ferociously, managing to club at least a couple of them to death with their rifle butts. The Kabalite Warriors mirrored their leader's courage, charging squad Beta-2 and 44-Kariya despite only numbering two against eleven, and though they killed maybe one unfortunate cyborg, the weight of numbers drowned them in a sea of gun smashes and augmetic stomps, pulping the fragile Drukhari.

Skitarii Ranger squad Delta-1 withdrew so that their Onager Dunecrawler escort could obliterate the Incubi with a hail of cognis heavy stubbers, though his neutron laser wasn't exactly optimal for firing into infantry. Onager Dunecrawler Beta-2 had more success, destroying the Reavers with anti-air fire, after the remnants of squad Alpha-1 fell back. The Ironstrider Ballistarii fired with uncanny precision, and this time they succeeded in downing the Raider.

Sato, inspired by their clean kill, did the same, his melta weapons melting the second Raider to slag. The Kabalite Warriors were forced to leap clear as their transport listed and plummeted, exploding and sending shrapnel into the already damaged Armiger Warglaive. Meanwhile, Kaji pushed his Armiger Moirax further to pursue the retreating Scourges, but despite burning them with his irrad cleanser, a good number survived, with only one Scourge succumbing to his intense fire and missed volkite.

Onager Dunecrawler Delta-1, dissatisfied that his cognis heavy stubbers failed to wipe out the Incubi, decided to charge in and kick them with his legs, actually killing one. In doing so, he tied up the surviving Incubi in combat to prevent them from charging the beleageuered Skitarii Ranger squad Delta-1, saving them from certain death.

The Archon was still keen to visit death, his Mandrakes joining him to massacre the remnants of Skitarii Ranger squad Alpha-1. Prior to that, he fired his blast pistol and destroyed 28-Tetsuo's squadron mate, sending the Ironstrider Ballistarius toppling in a wreck, before he plunged into the infantry with his twirling blades. By the time the blood had settled, about three of them had survived, and were hastily withdrawing for squad Beta-2 to fire into the Mandrakes, wiping them out.

The Scourges, though, continued to pummel the Armigers, leaping out. However, Kaji had one final display of defiance, overwatching with his irradiated flamer to kill all but one Scourge. It wasn't enough, as the second squad of Scourges tossed a grenade that detonated and blew apart his already failing armor. They then fired their dark lances, scything down Sato's Armiger Warglaive, which had taken further damage from the Kabalite Warrior's weapons.

The final surviving Scourge fired, his dark lance tearing a good chunk out of Onager Dunecrawler Beta-2, despite his emanatus force field.

With his squadron mate fallen, 28-Tetsuo took revenge, training his twin cognis lascannons on the Archon and firing. This time, he scored a direct hit, the Drukhari commander's cloaking field failing him for the first time, and the screaming Dark Eldar was obliterated by the ruby beam.

<Serves you right,> 28-Tetsuo growled, lowering his sights. <That's for my squadron mate.>

The second squad of Ironstrider Ballistarii moved up and fired on the Kabalite Warriors, eliminating more of them, reducing them to half and scattering the remaining five. Meanwhile, the Onager Dunecrawler was able to annihilate the full squad of Scourges with his Icarus Array. Unfortunately, he was destroyed by the last remaining Scourge with the dark lance, who flew away.

On the other hand, the Kabalite Warriors fought back, their dark lance destroying one of the Ironstrider Ballistarii in 33-Tetsuya's squadron. Needless to say, both 33-Tetsuya and 28-Tetsuo avenged the fallen rider by spearing the surviving Kabalite Warriors with lascannons, though with only four lascannon shots, at least one Kabalite Warrior survived.

By the time their fury ceased, there was only a single Scourge left in the Drukhari side, flying away desperately when he realized how outnumbered and outgunned he was...only for him to be shot down by the cognis heavy stubbers from the last remaining Onager Dunecrawler.

"You've got to be kidding me!" The sole surviving Kabalite Warrior leader whined. "We got our asses kicked by those metal monkeigh again!? How many times have we lost now!? We keep throwing ourselves forward and getting annihilated by their firepower! What is this Skitarii bullshit!? I blame the new balance dataslate for the imbalance!"

Sigma 44-Kariya shook his head as he watched the sole survivor of the Drukhari-Corsair force escape.

<We won.> He sighed in relief. <But at what cost?>

The defenders had lost quite a lot of their units, but he supposed it was worth the strategic victory. The pylon remained under the Adeptus Mechanicus's control, and Archmagos Theta-Rho could begin destroying it. Apparently, he had retrieved an archeotech device from the secret vaults of his Ark Mechanicus, an ancient weapon that was capable of dissassembling the Necron pylon at the molecular level.

<No,> Theta-Rho said, as if reading the Skitarii Marshal's thoughts. Or perhaps he really did. <This empyric temporal dissonance disassembler unmakes the xenos machine temporally.>

<Huh?>

<Meaning it reverses the state of the pylon back to a time when it does not exist, thus erasing it completely from time-space.> Even though 44-Kariya couldn't see Theta-Rho's bionic features, he could hear the smile in his binharic pulse. <There is no vile technology the xenos possess that can surpass the immense ingenuity of the Omnissiah. Praise to the Holy Trinity of the Machnie God!>