The Tau Go To War

Tau vs Valorax Guard | Peter v Tim | 40k | 54 | 109.997.M41

Up to now, the Tau Shas Sha'is Contingent had made probing attacks, undermining the industrial/military infrastructure. Actions taken had been met with some success but nowhere had appreciable gains been made. Aun'Ko, Ethereal leader of the expedition knew that it was time for a new direction.

It was time for the full force of the Shas Sha'is Contingent to go to war.

In the eastern regions of the Chalice, the scorchmost habitable region of Valorax, a sizable force of Tridents were on manoeuvres when the call came down the pipe about the strike on Qualitat by the forces of the Inquisition: the Grey Knights and Adepta Sororitas. The news of the disastrous assassination of Ivan Chord, the Planetary Governor, was like a hammer blow.

The men had been in the midst of an attack training mission but the timeline was broken as the news decimated on an open channel. Every tank ground to stillness. Every trooper stopped running and lowered their arms, disbelieving.

It simply wasn't possible. They were devastated; all of them; looking from man to man, trying to make sense of the impact this would have; what it would mean for the future of their entire planetary system in this impossibly dangerous time.

All motivation was gone; the training exercise forgotten. The soldiers wandered out of rank, murmuring to one another or simply staring into the middle distance.

And that was when the Tau struck.

A deluge of aerial barrage pummelled the battlefield, sending up huge clouds of debris and turning the plane into a crater-riddled wasteland, annihilating swathes of infantrymen and ripping apart tanks.

Manta heavy transport craft flew out of the sun and touched down, disgorging hordes of Tau troops, Devilfish transports and Battlesuits. Immediately pulse fire shot out across the dusty ground, taking down guardsmen as they ran to take up positions.

There were vast numbers of Tau making landfall in the middle distance - hostilities were clearly about to escalate immeasurably - but the Chalice Tridents were angry. They had been struck a wound by the assassination of their leader and it didn't matter whether the Tau were responsible. It would be them that would pay!

The Guardsmen roared in rage and charged across the scrubland, haring toward close combat as Basilisks fired shell after shell in arching trajectories down into the Tau lines. Leman Russ Battle tanks lumbered forward, pumping shells at the enemy.

But though attacking, the Tau dug in, luring the Guardsmen forward onto their guns and with little though to strategy the Tridents kept going, being cut down in viscous numbers, far before they could reach their enemies.

Hoping to protect themselves, the tanks fired on the Broadside Battlesuits, but the xenos armour was two strong for anything shy of anti-tank fire and held as the twin-linked Railguns knocked out tank after tank after tank.

It was turning into a massacre!

One combined platoon, terrified by the horrific casualties they were taking, turned and fled; but the Morale Squad behind them let loose a string of krak missiles into their ranks to force them to reconsider. With several men torn apart by the explosions, the rest of the squad, caught between frying pan and fire, turned back to face the Tau ranks, seconds before being torn open my pulse cannon fire from a hovering Devilfish.

The battalion commander called through his vox, trying to bring order to his men, focus fire on key targets; but it was too little and too late. The Tau gave out an unrelenting level of fire and as Piranhas dropped from the skies behind their lines, the last of the battle tanks in that part of the field was blown to smithereens.

The Tau beachhead was all but secure. The last remaining guardsmen gave return fire as the comms officer called in to Regional Command. They needed more men! Now!

Seconds later he was incinerated.

And seconds after that the last of the men in the Tau drop zone was eliminated.