The Defense of Argent

And so the Argent Campaign concludes today. We did Phase 3 of the Crusade Campaign that I had been organizing thus far, with the final showdown taking place in the homeworld of the Encarmine Angels, Argent itself.

The combined forces of the Death Guard, two plague companies under the command of Rhegorn, Chosen of the Seventh, and the Plague Lord Alastor Karkinus, attacked the fortress-monastery of the Encarmine Angels. Under the command of the Chapter Master, Varile Nosferatus, the Space Marines defended their homeworld stalwartly, doing their best to resist the decaying invasion of the Death Guard. Though it was a close battle, the majority of the Blood Angels Successor Chapter eventually succumbed to both plague and blade. A Redemptor Dreadnought attempted to destroy a Great Unclean One, only to be fell by it. Fortunately, Chapter Master Varile Nosferatus valiantly fought back and slew the Great Unclean One, sending it back screaming to the Warp. Despite his efforts, the Encarmine Angels were eventually overrun, the Sanguinary Guard annihilated by Possessed, and their tanks and vehicles overrun by Blightlord Terminators and Plague Marines. Though many Poxwalkers were slain by the noble Adeptus Astartes, they were unable to stand before the might of warp-imbued Heretic Astartes, the Veterans of ten thousand years of warfare thwarting their defenses and bringing their fortress-monastery down.

The Orks, led by Cyba-boss, scoured Argent for scrap to build his Waaagh!. Doubling as a Forge World, Argent was home to many manufactorums and tank assemby lines. Eying the newly constructed vehicles for loot, Cyba-boss led a great mechanized Waaagh!, leading a Stompa and a Gorkanaut in trampling over the Forge World's manufactorums. The local Imperial Guard regiment, led by the Lord Commissar known as the Dread Lord, Shaidar Haran, marshaled a defense over a vital manufactorum in hopes of halting Cyba-boss's rampage. The combined firepower of a Shadowsword, Leman Russ tanks and courageous Guardsmen felled the Stompa, but the Astra Militarum were slowly being overrun by the Orks. Fortunately, a last-ditched effort to protect the vital machinery saw the Guardsmen successfully defend the crucial installation, keeping it out of the hands of the greenskins. They suffered horrific casualties, however, with their Lord Commissar falling to the hands of...Grots. The same Grots who killed Adepta Sororitas and Poxwalkers, which only increased their reputation and cemented as legends among their klan.

The World Eaters attempted to assist the Death Guard, but they encountered a patrol of Armiger-class Knights from House Yato and were slaughtered. Though they destroyed an Armiger Warglaive and heavily damaged an Armiger Moirax Knight, the entire warband was annihilated.

Disgruntled at his defeat, Cyba-boss rallied his surviving forces to attack a power plant that was supplying another chain of manufactorums, assembling what was left of his mechanized forces into a mek-Waaagh!. Fielding an entire army of walkers, ranging from a Stompa to a Morkanaut, Killa Klans, Deffdread, and more, the Orks smashed through the defenders...only to collide against an imposing force of Imperial Knights. The nobles of House Yato weathered the ferocious assault from Cyba-boss and his scrap walkers, seeing their Knights fall one by one to the klaws of the greenskin armor, though they fought as hard as they could. Eventually, the Daimyo Koushiro Kusanagi, the pilot of the Dominus Knight Castellan, Dragon's Fury, managed to destroy the last of the mechanized Ork walkers. Though the defenders held the power plant, it was at a great cost. Of the three Knight nobles and two bondsmen who walked into the battle, only one survived.

Though the Encarmine Angels fell in battle, the majority of their storied chapter destroyed, their Imperial allies succeeded in securing the Space Marines' homeworld of Argent and drove the invaders off. However, the Death Guard were content to leave, as their objective had been achieved. They had left a parting gift - a permanent plague cluster that had taken root in the Encarmine Angels' devastated fortress-monastery, infecting a good amount of their gene-seed and hampering their process to create new Space Marines. Nurgle smiled upon them indulgently, lavishing his rewards of rot and decay upon his champions for their feats.

And thus Argent was held by the Imperium, though at great cost. The once valiant Encarmine Angels have been reduced to a shadow of their former self, with only their first and tenth companies functional. Everyone, including their ancient Dreadnoughts, had been killed. Looking upon the plague-ridden scene of what used to be the proud fortress-monastery of the Encarmine Angels, Varile Nosferatus felt despair. However, he vowed that his Chapter's sacrifice would not be in vain. In spite of the devastation sown by the triumphant Death Guard, the Encarmine Angels will rebuild and emerge stronger than ever.

That's pretty much it for the campaign. Thanks to a last-ditch fight by the Imperium, they barely managed to keep ahold of Argent and prevent it from being turned into a plague planet by the Death Guard. And so the campaign concludes, with quite an exciting finish. At least it didn't turn into a one-sided victory for the Death Guard! I'm glad the Imperium managed to fight back in the end.

Warzone Points:

Imperium: 12

Chaos: 10 (this was a 2v1 game where 2 Death Guard players fielded 75 power level each against the Blood Angels player's 150 power level list, so I calculated it as if 2 players won a Strike Force game, hence 1+4+1+4)

Xenos: 2

As a result, the Imperium won the third phase of the campaign. That was enough to lift them from an abyss of defeat and save Argent somewhat.

Total Strategic Value:

Imperium: 3

Chaos: 3

Consequently, the campaign ended in a draw. So everybody wins! Even the xenos, who got a good scrap. Yeah, the Orks didn't get any Strategic Value, but they got a good krumpin', which was what they were looking for, so objective achieved. I hope everyone enjoyed the campaign! I probably should have done a lot of things better, but we all live and learn. I certainly had a lot of fun. I don't know if the narrative I wrote out sounded convincing or fun to read, but hey, at least I tried!

Happy gaming, everyone!

Oh, before I forget, I guess I'll be joining a new Crusade League next week. It'll be run by someone else, so hopefully it'll be much better!