Roadmaps for 40K and Horus Heresy

Apparently, we were promised roadmaps for Warhammer 40,000 and Horus Heresy today, and they streamed it on Warhammer Community. It didn't show up in the website, so I had to go to the Facebook page and hyperlink it from there.

I won't talk about Fantasy and Age of Sigmar because that's not my jam. I'll instead sum up the 40K and Horus Heresy stuff for those who missed the stream. There aren't actual roadmaps, so people are disappointed, but there are some exciting news. Sort of.

For 40K, sorry to say, but Blood Angels are all we are getting until Christmas. 2025 will open with a huge bang with Astra Militarum - and we will be getting Death Korps of Krieg in plastic! They said a full Death Korps of Krieg plastic range, so I'm guessing Death Riders, Engineers, heavy weapons teams,  Death Korps Marshal, etc. Hopefully Grenadiers, but I don't know about that. Would be awesome if we do get Grenadiers for Krieg!

After Imperial Guard, Aeldari will get their codex, followed by "Chaos." I don't know which Chaos faction, specifically - Stu was vague - but basically we're left with Thousand Sons, World Eaters and Death Guard. Maybe Chaos Knights, but I doubt it, it's most likely one of the three Legions. Then they published an article, and somehow Chaos turned into Imperial Knights. Consideirng I'm an Imperial Knights player, I'm not complaining, but...okay? Wished they mentioned that in the stream! Would have been so stoked.

For Horus Heresy, uh, well...the promised plastic melee upgrade kit will be coming soon. Soon. Don't ask me how soon. They also intend to flesh out the core Space Marine range, but again, no specifics. I assume it'll be Breachers and Characters (like Praevians, Techmarines, Apothecaries, etc.), since we have so many vehicles already. There will also be second waves of Solar Auxilia and Mechanicum, so keep your eyes peeled for them.

No news of the plastic Questoris Mechanicum Knights like the Styrix and Magaera. Oh, well. Also, Legions specific stuff will be further down the line, taking several years, but clearly they intend to do them in plastic...eventually.

There's also more unit updates for Legions Imperialis, but only Space Marines and Solar Auxilia. They intend on bringing the full scale Age of Darkness kits to Legions Imperialis, so maybe Typhons and the like will be next. Mechanicum, Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence will be in...a few years. So don't hold your breath.

That's it for the 40K and Horus Heresy news. Hope this helps.

Oh, and my flight to Singapore is tomorrow morning, so...I won't be online for a long while. Also, depending on what happens after I return to Singapore, I might not be able to return to Warhammer 40,000 immediately (depends on how quickly I find a job so that I can start buying stuff), so yeah. I might spend more time writing lore articles instead, maybe? Still need to get the Sanctus Reach: Hour of the Wolf article written someday. And that also depends on whether my packages get to Singapore - they've been already returned to my American residence. I resent them, but I fear another mishap in the warp will occur, and I'll never get them back. Obviously, if I lose all my campaign books (Warzone Charadon, etc.), I'll be too depressed and too bereft of actual sources to write anything.

My books and models...ugh. Oh, well...

Potential Disaster

It pains me to say this, but I think I might not get my Warhammer 40,000 stuff back to Singapore.

I'm not sure why, but apparently because of an "incomplete customs claim form" or something, they got sent back to my residential address in Minneapolis. I resent them today (2 boxes, but I think the 3rd one will show up tomorrow or Wednesday), but after this experience I'm worried they'll get sent back again. If that happens, I...will have to give up. I'm flying back to Singapore on Thursday morning, so I can't do anything about that. Probably just have my friends here pick it up from the post office and help themselves to them. F.

Now I'm not blaming USPS or whatever - it could be the mistake is entirely on my part for giving a stupid general description (I just wrote "toys" on the description, should have been more detailed). But there is a very real possibility that I won't be able to get my Warhammer 40,000 miniatures and books back (codex, supplements, Libers, etc.). When that happens, I'll just...give up. I'll have to rebuy the books, I guess, but it hurts.

The only thing I'll probably get back for sure are my Knights, which are stored in a Battlefoam checked in luggage, along with 10th edition Thousand Sons. So that's a silver lining at least. I pray to the God-Emperor the other packages get through customs, or...yeah. That's it for me. Sigh.

I don't know what to say. It hurts, but there's nothing I can do about this.

Mortals against Mortals

Colonel Ikeda lowered his magnoculars and shook his head in dismay. Over the horizon, he could see the Traitor Guard army approach the Ryuusei Katana's positions. Worse, towering over the tanks and hordes of rabid infantry was a single Titan. A Reaver class, from what he could see, bristling with devastating weaponry capable of leveling a hive city.

Fortunately, he had a trio of Shadowswords under his charge. The Titan Hunter company had formed up behind a hab-block, trying to get a lock on the approaching Reaver. Its blood-red carapace reminded him of screaming hordes of berserkers, and he had to suppress a shiver. Ikeda had faced down World Eaters before, and he was familiar with the Legio Audax that served with them - as they had done so for the 10 millennia since the great Heresy. They mostly composed of Warhound Scout Titans, though, and a Reaver within their ranks was a rare sight.

No less deadly, however. It was lumbering toward them, not as swift as the Warhound hunting packs that Audax was renowned for, but faster than a Warlord. Right now, it was following the tactics of its smaller brethren, darting between towering hab-blocks to stay out of sight of the lethal volcano cannons of the Shadowsword. Instead, a single Shadowsword rolled up, its turret traversed to fire the first shot. Escorting it were Leman Russ battle tanks, Malcador tanks and legions of infantry, all of them speeding ahead to close in on the Ryuusei Katanas.

No Astartes support...for now. Ikeda breathed a sigh of relief. At least they wouldn't have to face Heretic Astartes.

His relief vanished when the enemy Shadowsword fired. The hab-block beside the Titan Hunter company was obliterated, the shockwaves rocking the trio of super-heavy tanks, but they remained intact.

"Fire back! Take that out!" Ikeda barked. It would be disastrous if they lost even a single Shadowsword before they could take a shot at the Reaver Titan, which still remained out of sight. As one, the three Shadowswords retaliated, laser lances tearing through hab-blocks. One of them caught the foe, and the Shadowsword - its hull daubed with unholy sigils - vanished in a colossal conflagration.

To the side, Aethon Heavy Sentinels hammered the hab-block that a lasrifle tercio had taken cover in, killing over half the squad with anti-personnel missiles. The survivors ducked, scrambling for shelter even as the structure crumbled around them. To the center, Major Murakami and his command squad seized a data crystal that provided vital intelligence for Fleet Command before hauling it back to their Dracosan Demolisher.

"We aren't sticking around to get masssacred," the grizzled major growled, eying the legions of braying infantry that had swarmed the central cathedral. Way too many for them to count.

"Get that data crystal out of there!" Ikeda instructed through the vox, his fingers tightening over the device. "We need to get the vital intel to fleet command, no matter what!"

"What do you think we're trying to do?" Murakami snapped, poking the driver's seat. "Drive!"

"Trying, sir," the driver replied, swerving the armored transport through the cathedral. Fortunately, the enemy had more tempting targets. The Malcador tanks were firing at the Stormblade, but without much effect. Instead, it was the Reaver Titan - who had finally loomed out of its cover - that destroyed one of the two Stormblades under Colonel Ikeda's command. Ikeda watched in dismay as the Stormblade next to his vanished under a flurry of tank-sized shells from the Reaver Titan's gatling blaster. Even if Lieutenant Rikudo's Stormblade had survived the volley, the accurate blast from the turbo laser destructor definitely finished it off, obliterating the super-heavy and glassing the area.

"Reverse!" He barked at the tank driver, who obliged. The Stormblade shuddered under the sudden change in direction, the plasma blastgun coughing and disintegrating one of the Malcador Vanquishers. Above, a fleet of Lightnings dove, their twin lascannons and Hellstrike missiles leaving fiery contrails before impacting against the Reaver Titan and taking out its void shields in a thunderous bang. Explosions engulfed the Reaver's frame, but the immense walker simply strolled out of the expanding inferno.

The Leman Russ tanks spun their turrets about and fired, and one of the Lightnings crashed, taken out by a lucky shot despite its supersonic speed. The Leman Russ Executioners, on the other hand, wiped out the infantry horde that was swarming toward Murakami's second tercio, the plasma beams incinerating entire squads into ash.

The Valdors braked and fired their neutron lasers, and a speeding Malcador Infernus rocked, but remained intact. The lascannons missed, unfortunately, and they ducked out of sight, hiding behind a hab-block for cover.

The second squadron of Leman Russ tanks hammered the Dracosan of the first tercio, pummeling the armored transport and wrecking it. Suddenly, the survivors of the first squad found themselves stranded.

"Our job is to retrieve the information in those data stacks," Ikeda said, monitoring the situation in the hololith display within the command station aboard his Stormblade. He swiped at runes, trying to revise battle plans and rectify strategies. The Reaver remained a threat, striding toward them with its guns opening fire. "Forget any last stands, and just grab whatever data you can!"

"Trying," Sergeant Sato muttered, limping away as his squad broke out of cover and ferried the data stacks back toward the tank line. Unfortunately, the Malcador Infernus bore down on them...only for its flamethrower to miss. He shook his head in disbelief, thanking the God-Emperor for small mercies. "They actually missed us with their giant flamethrower."

His hope was destroyed the next second when the Leman Russ tanks opened fire, their battle cannons reducing the remnants of his squad to dust. Ikeda cursed, wondering if the enemy cared nothing for the vital data they were sent to retrieve, but saw on his auspex that it had somehow remained intact. And the tanks were now rolling toward the data crystals that lay next to Sato's corpse.

His Leman Russ Executioner tanks fired, taking out two of the Leman Russ battle tanks. The Dracosan tried to emulate them, but the surviving main battle tanks withstood the lascannon barrage before retaliating, reducing one of the Executioners to a smoking husk. The Reaver Titan fired, its gatling blaster swatting one of the darting Lightnings out of the air, but its laser blasters and turbo laser destructor completely missed the Shadowswords - though, understandably, it was still pretty far away from the trio of Titan Hunters. One of the laser beams struck and rocked a Shadowsword, but the venerable tank somehow remained intact despite all odds.

"Fire back!" Ikeda yelled, relief replacing his rage and fear. The Shadowsword commanders didn't need him to tell them twice. A volley of engine-killing beams lanced out, spearing through the collapsing void shields and punching through the head of the Legio Audax Titan. The Reaver slumped before crashing backward, its face now a smoking crater.

The surviving Lightnings pulled back, their Hellstrike missiles and lascannons spearing through the Malcador tanks and blowing them up. The Valdor tanks fired at the Aethon Sentinels, destroying them, while the Stormblade's plasma blastgun struck one of the Malcador Infernus, which detonated, its fuel tanks set alight by the esoteric beams. Its squadron mate swerved to the side, its armored hull blackened but otherwise undamaged from the flames that had engulfed its partner. Even so, the tank driver appeared unnerved by his squadron mate's demise, and the Infernus turned and pulled back.

The Chaos Ogryns, on the other hand, crashed into the second tercio and butchered them, with only a single squad remaining and somehow killing two of them with bayonets. They suffered 75% casualties, though, but somehow managed to toss the data stacks to the Leman Russ Executioner tanks, who retrieved them.

"We need to seize the initiative," Ikeda muttered, switching orders and instructing his tanks to change positions. His flexibility paid off, and the Shadowswords erased the Leman Russ battle tanks to the west, along with the Valdor's efforts. That prevented the data-stacks that the late Sato had retrieved from falling into the hands of the Traitors. The Stormblade didn't fire, having retreated because Ikeda somehow broke morale. It didn't matter - Ikeda planned to accelerate his Stormblade toward the fallen datastacks. On the other hand, the Leman Russ Executioners took out a third Leman Russ main battle tank while suffering no casualties in return this time, with it being three versus one now.

The third Dracosan fired its gravis lascannon, and despite the gunner's accuracy, he failed to punch through the thick armor of the Leman Russ tank. Meanwhile, Major Murakami's Dracosan and Command squad withdrew to the rear of their lines, ferrying the vital intelligence to safety and securing one of their secondary objectives. The cultists maintained control of the central cathedral, the sacred relics within a lost cause.

"We can't recover those," Ikeda admitted to himself. He should be satisfied with the vital intelligence and two data-crystals that his tanks had recovered. The Ogryns had massacred the last infantry squad, but should they leap out of the hab-block whose interior they had painted in blood, they would be annihilated by the waiting Leman Russ Executioner tanks, though admittedly they still had that last surviving Leman Russ battle tank to worry about. The Lightnings could handle that, though.

The third Dracosan was thundering toward the enemy's lines, to ensure that they didn't remain defiant under the Loyalists' onslaught. Hopefully, that would allow them to secure a foothold, even if they surrendered the cathedral to the traitors. Ikeda was all right with leaving it to them because he stood by the Imperial Truth and didn't hold much stake in Saints and the Imperial Cult. Though the citizens of Ryuusei believed in the divinity of the Emperor as the descendant of the Sun God, they didn't buy the zealotry that the preachers spread via the Lectitio Divinitatus.

"At least we won," he murmured. They must have lost all their infantry, but they maintained aerial and armored superiority. The Chaos Ogryns, perhaps realizing it was suicidal to leave the safety of their hab-block, had retreated instead of furiously charging the Leman Russ Executioner tanks, and even the enemy Leman Russ was reversing, pulling back. Ikeda thumbed the vox. "Don't pursue. Let's retrieve whatever data we can, and withdraw."

He would call in for an orbital strike on the cathedral later, as a final "feth you" to the Traitors celebrating their desecration of the supposedly holy site. The Ecclesiarchy could complain all they want later, but they weren't the ones risking their lives here.

Hopefully, the Lord Commander recovers the Nihilus half of the Imperium, Ikeda thought to himself, praying that the recently returned Primarch - Roboute Guilliman - would save them all. There was also a rumor regarding the "Knight of Nihilus" being another Primarch, but deep in Imperium Sanctus, it was hard to confirm such gossip.

Nonetheless, Ikeda was determined that the Ryuusei Katanas wouldn't fail the Primarch Reborn. They would follow the Avenging Son and save the Imperium from the traitors.

Painted Knight Castigator and Shadowswords, Stormblade

I finally got around to painting my Cerastus Knight Castigator! Also painted my Shadowswords and Stormblade while at it. Phew! That took a while. And just in time before I pack them for the journey back to Singapore.

I also assembled a fourth Shadowsword and a second Stormblade, along with 8 Leman Russ Executioner tanks. I'm going to field a full plasma armored company with the Leman Russ Executioner tanks and Stormblades, and the Shadowswords will go into a Titan Hunter Company. I can't wait! This will be fun. I think.

After I return to Singapore, I'll be focusing on job hunting - already sent applications, but I don't know if they'll succeed. Do need a job, or I won't be able to fund my hobby, ha ha. We'll see. At least my Knights will be intact (not physically, I mean as an army). I'll need to get a new Onager Dunecrawler when I return to Singapore, though. And maybe start building a Legio Cybernetica army, but that's for another day.

Argh...still have to paint 28mm scale Solar Auxilia. Sigh. Anyway, we'll see.

Shadowsword and Stormblade

I assembled a third Shadowsword and a Stormblade tank commander. Now I have a Titan Hunter company and a tank commander for my armored cohort. Yay! Now just waiting for my third box of Stormblade and Shadowsword, as well as my Leman Russ Executioner tanks!

I plan to do an all plasma armored cohort, though the Baneblades and Valdor tank hunters will probably form the support. I can't wait to field them!

Shadowswords

I assembled a couple of Shadowswords for my Legions Imperialis army!

I plan to get another for a Titan Hunter company! The one with a dude in the cupola will be the tank commander. A third Shadowsword to round out the Titan Hunter, and I'll build the fourth one as a Stormblade Tank Commander, surrounded by Leman Russ Executioner tanks, for my plasma armored company!

Perhaps down the road, I might eventually get a third box for a second Stormblade and fourth Shadowsword (or just get a separate Stormblade on his own), but I dunno. That's something for the future. But I do love the idea of fielding a pair of Stormblades surrounded by eight Leman Russ Executioner tanks. That will be so cool!

I'll have to swap out the Leman Russ Vanquishers eventually, I suppose. I don't know. I definitely want to keep the Baneblades for sure, though. Decisions, decisions...well, we'll see, I guess.

Speaking of the future...well, I'm kind of apprehensive, but I'll be returning to Singapore at the end of August. I've passed the defense of my dissertation, and I'll officially graduate at the end of August (God-Emperor willing - apparently. it's contingent on the minor revisions to my dissertation, which I've done and I'm waiting for approval). Unfortunately, I failed to find a job in the US, mostly because of my own incompetence, ha ha, and also because I was only looking for jobs in Minneapolis/St. Paul - if I've to move out of state, I might as well return to Singapore.

So yeah...this is my last year in Minneapolis. It sucks, but on the bright side, I'll be returning to family. I'll definitely miss it here, and I intend to return in the future - definitely for future Renegade events every year if my job and income allow it. Well...assuming I get a job, because I've sent quite a lot of applications and I haven't received any job offer so far. Only a handful of rejections (that's...a good sign, right? That means the others haven't rejected me...yet).

I'll have to say, one of the reasons why I made it this far is because of Warhammer 40,000. Covid was just terrible - and not solely because of the disease. The isolation and complete lack of social interaction during those couple of years was just mentally draining and depressing. One of the reasons why I held out as long as I did in this program was because Warhammer 40,000 was a welcome distraction every Saturday - it gave me a reason to get out of the house, meet people, hang out, and take my mind off things.

Don't underestimate how much taking your mind off things and indulging in a hobby can help you mentally. It really makes a lot of difference. I was on the verge of giving up several times, but whenever I felt down, Warhammer 40,000 was a safe space I could retreat to, get my spirit and motivation back up, and then return to work after that.

Covid...yeah, it did a huge number on me, and there were a couple of times I was contemplating suicide (compounded with cyber bullying and people on Webnovel sending me death threats because I was - and still am - a horrible writer). Perhaps if I was allowed to leave the house and hang out, it would have been better - it certainly was a lot better once the isolation was lifted and we could return to going out, after the vaccines and stuff, and I remember I pretty much spent most of my time catching up as best as I could, participating in seasonal Renegade events and Best Coast Pairings, ha ha.

But Matched Play isn't really my thing - I'm more of a narrative person, as you can tell from my blog, and I just went all in into Crusade. I don't know how I'm going to continue in Singapore, but I know for sure there's Battle Bunker in Bugis and Gamers@Pi in Somerset, so...yeah. I'll definitely miss all my friends here in Minneapolis, though. Gotta return for Renegade in future, make it a yearly event or something. Heh. I dunno. We'll see.

For now, though, I've to apply for more jobs until I get one. While I do so, Warhammer 40,000 is a welcome distraction, and a great boon to my mental health. Yeah, people complain a lot, and many do 3D printing, but there's just something about assembling plastic models from the sprues, y'know? While listening to Arbitor Ian, Luetin09, Occulus Imperia or Valrak in the background. Just lifts my spirit and boosts my morale, especially after a hard day at work (and there are times where I just screw up totally and feel so depressed at my incompetence). Oh, well.

Hopefully, now that I've graduated, I'll become a better writer. Still not giving up on the dream to be a Black Library author one day, heh (though...I'll admit that it's a stretch, given my complete lack of writing skills).

Painted Thousand Sons and Dark Angels

I painted my Thousand Sons. Still a work in progress. Wait, never mind, I'm pretty much done with them. Just transfers left, if I ever get to them.

I also touched up on Dark Angels Interemptors. Touched up on the trim and bases. Dreadwing is so cool. Hopefully I can add more in the future, but for now, I'm satisfied with what I have.

I wasn't able to finish painting in Dreamers in time before the store closed, so I ended up continuing at home, and now they are all done! Again, as I said, the only thing left to do are transfers - but that's something I'll do another day. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in the near future. Perhaps not at all. Heh. Anyway, I hope I can field my fully painted Thousand Sons for a Crusade game next week!

New Stormtrooper Kill Team Cinematic Trailer

 This just got dropped on Warhammer Community today.

The jump pack Stormtroopers look amazing! Yes, I know people call them Tempestus Scions or Militarum Tempestus, but I'm old school Imperial Guard, and I'll insist on calling them Stormtroopers. Gonna grab a couple of boxes myself, and might even get more for an Elysian kitbashing project. Heh. Can't wait!

Also need a Valkyrie. Maybe. We'll see. Till then!

Solar Auxilia command squad

I kitbashed a Solar Auxilia command squad using the Veleraris. Not sure if it works, but hey, if it works, it works.

Also had a small lifeward squad for smaller games, if I don't have enough points. More of a melee unit. The command squad, though, has Veletaris companions armed with plasma guns! Yay! I think.

Ryusei Katanas and House Yato take on the Sons of Horus and Legio Mortis

"Huh, so after the debacle in Bertual, we're now posted to Roseville." Colonel Ikeda heaved a sigh and looked up a the titanic trees in the supposed death world. The trees here towered over even the spires and hab-blocks of the Imperial colony. Roseville, apparently, provided agricultural material to much of the Imperium, having been discovered during the early days of the Great Crusade. The herbs and plants found among the enormous wildlife held immense medicinal values.

And the Sons of Horus were here to plunder the planet.

Ikeda could guess why. In addition to medicine, the vegetation in Roseville could be harvested for narcotics and stimms, much of which was supplied to the berserk Cthonian Headhunters. Already he could see a colossal contingent of Traitor Auxilia accompanying the Sons of Horus, formations of infantry marching alongside tanks. Peering out from his cupola, Ikeda could count at least two Baneblades, two Malcador tanks, and four Leman Russ Vanquishers. Almost a mirror of his own armored cohort, except that he had Malcador Valdor tank-hunters instead of the usual Malcador Vanquisher tanks.

But more intimidating were the Legiones Astartes company, with tactical squads striding beside two Sicarian Omegas and four Contemptor Dreadnoughts. Yet, the most terrifying component of their force was the single Warlord Titan that lumbered toward them, its armor painted in the colors of Legio Mortis. The colonel felt a chill run down his spine.

"What do we do?"

"We fight," I replied from my Throne Mechanicum in my Cerastus Knight Lancer. "The Lord Praetorian has charged us with the defense of Roseville, and so we shall protect this world with all our might."

Honestly, I wasn't a fan of fighting in a death world, but Lord Rogal Dorn had issued his orders, and so we obeyed. The honor of House Yato and our chivalric code demanded nothing less. After the massacre at the hands of the Emperor's Children and their gunships, I was reluctant to charge into the teeth of another Traitor Legion again, but the Emperor and his Loyal son called upon our aid.

"Everyone, direct fire on the Warlord Titan," Ikeda ordered, sliding into his Baneblade. He thumbed the vox. "Lightning squadron, provide air cover. Valdors and Vanquishers, first fire! Everyone, advance!"

Only the Knights didn't follow his orders, for we followed our own chain of command. I transmitted a message to my fellow scion, Sato, and the two of us guided our steeds forward at full stride, weaving through the titanic trees and hab-blocks that made up the half-biological, half-concrete jungle.

Neutron lasers hammered the Warlord Titan, the shock pulses from the exotic beams bursting several layers of void shields, but the mammoth engine's defenses held. Lascannons from both the Valdors and Vanquishers continued to pummel it, and eventually, the void shields gave out, exposing the immense walker to the open.

That was when the Vanquisher cannons boomed, armor piercing shells shrieking as they crossed the distance between us and our foes and punching through armor plating. The head crumpled, but the Warlord Titan shrugged off most of them, weathering the anti-armor barrage.

However, that wasn't all.

The Lightnings swooped, their twin lascannons and hellstrike missiles searing through air. The latter left fiery contrails in the air before they slammed into the Warlord Titan's core in blazing detonations, engulfing its head violently. The Warlord Titan slumped, decapitated by the aerial strike, smoke fuming from where the cockpit had been.

"Engine kill!" One of the pilots, Aozaki, whooped.

Unfortunately for his squadron, the enemy Baneblades opened fire. Though the Lightnings jinked and soared through the air at supersonic speed, one of them was clipped by the powerful anti-armor shell and exploded, its wreckage crashing into a hab-block and demolishing it. Ikeda's Baneblades retaliated, taking out another Baneblade, while the Vanquishers responded by taking out one Baneblade in his squadron. The Sicarian Omegas mirrored the Baneblades, the Sons of Horus targeting the aircraft with pinpoint accuracy. The plasma melted the wing of a second Lightning, causing it to spin into an uncontrollable dive before it plummeted.

Holy Terra...how did the Sons of Horus and Cthonian Headhunters take out two aircrafts?!

On the other side of the battlefield, I realized that my Knight banner wasn't faring as well. The Aethon Heavy Sentinels bombarded us with multilasers and missiles, but our ion shields held. However, the Malcador tanks had more success, their armor piercing rounds smashing past our ion shields and causing Sato's Knight to stagger from the immense impacts. His steed limped now, smoking, but fortunately, he hadn't gone down.

Yet.

The Dracosans had zoomed out to disgorge their passengers, with Major Murakami's command squad, the two lasrifle tercios and their flamer support section jumping out to garrison two hab-blocks. The Veletaris Storm Section did the same thing, disembarking from their Dracosans to garrison a hab-block behind my Knight banner. In contrast, the hab-blocks directly opposite were being garrisoned by two tactical squads and a single large lasrifle tercio, complete with flamers.

I frowned, wondering if there were Terminators in one of those hab-blocks. There were definitely Ogryns, though. The abhumans were barreling toward my and Sato's Knights. We ignored them for now, especially when they chose to garrison a hab-block of all things, and instead charged the Aethon Heavy Sentinels, smashing them apart with our lances. While we did so, the Vanquishers and Valdors fired again, destroying the final Baneblade and two Vanquishers. The enemy Vanquishers retaliated, taking out three Vanquishers in return. Ouch. Meanwhile, the Malcadors fired at our Knight Lancers, but our ion shields deflected the powerful shells.

"Having a 3+ ion shield save is immense," I muttered. Even with the AP -2 on the Malcador's Vanquisher's shells, we still had a 4+ save - and we didn't need to reroll successful saves from their armorbane because they counted as invulnerable saves and not armor saves. Hah!

The Lightnings swooped down once more, their twin lascannons and hellstrike missiles destroying the Contemptor Dreadnoughts, bathing the smaller walkers in explosions. The Sicarian Omega damaged Ikeda's Baneblade with plasma, rocking it, but Ikeda instead targeted the huge tactical squad that was double timing (or triple timing) toward the hab-block where the lasrifle plus flamer tercio was garrisoned in. The Baneblade cannon completely missed, but at least the autocannons and lascannon sponsons took out a couple of squads.

The Dracosans fared better, their gravis lascannons accurately singling out the Sicarian Omegas and puncturing their hulls, blowing them up spectacularly.

We continued to push our advantage, and the Dracosans killed three pairs of Ogryns with their demolisher cannons, the shells so powerful that they ignored whatever cover the structure provided. One of the drivers cheered. "Hell, yeah! Take that, you filthy abhumans!"

"Bro," Murakami said with a sigh. "Vox discipline."

"Sorry, sir."

The Vanquishers continued to push their advantage, taking out our final Vanquisher, but the Valdors succeeded in eliminated one of them. Phew. The Baneblade and Dracosans continued to bombard the swiftly approaching tactical squads, but the Legiones Astartes - famed for their transhuman resilience - shrugged off plenty of the exploding shells and lascannon shots. Still, several squads continued to go down, blasted apart by weaponry meant for anti-tank purposes.

I couldn't help but be amazed by the legionnaires, but I had concerns of my own. Sato and I charged the Malcador tanks, taking them out. Meanwhile, the Cthonian Headhunters lasrifle tercio had spilled out of their barracks, but their lasrifles and flamers did nothing against our Knights. Out in cover, they were pulverized by demolisher shells from the advancing Dracosans. The lasrifle and flamer tercio hunkered down and took potshots at the sprinting legionaries, but no less than a couple went down, their power armor prove against light arms.

At this point, there wasn't much left of the Sons of Horus, to my surprise. Their Terminators appeared to still be in reserve, or they didn't have any of their famed Justineran for some reason. Perhaps this was an Inductii force? I had heard that the Sons of Horus were desperately accelerating the Astartes training and surgical process, and many of the Legionaries facing us were newly-spawned warriors without any actual experience, press-ganged into battles with little more training other than hypno-indoctrination.

Was that why they were falling so easily to our guns, or was this whole thing a trap? To lure us into complacency?

Ikeda was having none of it, though.

"Fire!" He yelled, still directing the Baneblade fire at the advancing tactical squad. The survivors dodged most of the Baneblade cannons and lascannons, though several of the autocannon shells hit home. Even so, a significant number of them were left, and they finally made their stand, planting a standard in front of the hab-block where the lasrifle tercio nervously waited. Instead of assaulting the infantry, they spun around and charged straight into the Dracosans, only to be run over by the armored personnel carriers.

The Ogryns finally stumbled out of the crumbling hab-block. Driven into a frenzy, the surviving pair aggressively charged the Dracosans in revenge, and tore apart three of them before the final Dracosan ran over him. Meanwhile, Sato and I proceeded to massacre the survivors of the lasrifle tercio, stomping on them with our titanic feet and disintegrating the rest with swift sweeps of our shock lances. The Vanquisher damaged one of the Valdors, only to be obliterated in the return fire, the neutron lasers punching through its hull.

With that, we stood defiant in the face of the Sons of Horus onslaught - the enemy only having two tactical squads (or perhaps one of them being Terminators) garrisoned in hab-blocks far away. Upon annihilating the Cthonian Headhunters in our side of the battlefield, Sato and I had claimed the Traitor barracks and leveled it to deny them training facilities. Even if the Solar Auxilia weren't Legiones Astartes, they were still a deadly enemy. One that we sought to reduce the numbers of as much as possible.

"Phew," I muttered, realizing that I had survived a battle for the first time. Most of the foe's firepower had been directed at the Baneblades, Vanquishers and Lightnings. The enemy was in full retreat - apparently, they had achieved their objective by planting a standard in front of our hab-block. I had no idea what the significance of that was, but I contacted Ikeda over the vox. "Colonel, perhaps we should do something about that standard."

"Yeah...we'll destroy it. Flamer section!"

I watched as the flamer section incinerated the Sons of Horus standard, even as I prayed to the Emperor that it wasn't some sort of foul ritual by the Traitors. We had heard increasing reports of Traitors conducting what appeared to be superstitious rites, only to result in catastrophic emergences of exodimensional xenos.

Were they trying to achieve the same thing here?

Well, we've stopped them...for now. I studied the holo-screen in my Throne Mechanicum and inclined in my seat with a sigh. I pray to the Emperor that they don't have anything else up their sleeves.

Even if they did, the Knights of House Yato and our Ryuusei Katanas auxiliaries will stand up to defy them again. I hope, anyway.