The Trap: Part Three - Overrun!

Chaos vs Crimson Blades | Gill v Tim | 40k | 57 | 110.997.M41  

Chaplain Sank dropped down the back of the Pernicious Gate, narrowly avoiding the lascannon fire from the approaching Chaos Land Raider, making contact via com for fast reinforcements.

Even if he had been able to open the gate and take control of the daemonic horde beyond, the price would have destroyed him and likely the rest of the Crimson Blades.

The gate had fallen. All they could do now was try and mitigate their losses and strike back before the forces of Chaos could find their footing.

But even as he spoke, sorcerers of the Thousand Sons uttered the incantations to open the gate and gain control of the slathering horde within and the portal burst into fiery light.

Dozens of sinewy lithe female forms strode through; terrible and beautiful in their foul glory: the Daemons of Slaanesh - now under the control of the Chaos Space Marines!

Each had a pair of vicious crab-claws. Each displayed their curvaceous but distorted bodies seductively as a caramel aroma filled the clearing. And around them the consolidated Chaos forces drew in, preparing to depart.

This was the second gate now that had fallen to the Traitor Marines. Only three more remained - three more legions of daemonic fury, waiting to be controlled.

But before the dark forces could make their departure, a dozen bolts flew into their ranks and exploded; then a dozen more.

The Crimson Blades weren't out of the fight yet. A Strike Platoon had manoeuvred into place in response to Chaplain Sank's call and more reinforcements were on the way.

Without a need for command, Seekers of Slaanesh danced away from the clustered forces.

They struck the marine gunline with seductive violence, tickling out the souls of the loyalist marines as they flayed open their armour and flesh.

The Seekers fell, still smiling in the ecstatic throes of battle, but Daemonettes took their place, leaping into action with their great claws snipping at the faces of their enemies.

Assault marines jumped forward powered by the jet packs but Night Lords ran to met them, gaining the initiative and eviscerating them where they stood.

Answering the call from space, a drop pod smashed onto the battlefield, blowing its door clamps, and a command squad emerged, letting fire with plasma weapons.

But the mighty exalted Keeper of Secrets K'Syarta materialised behind them and ripped apart both them and their drop pod.

The attacking force of Crimson Blades were routed and then annihilated. The forces of Chaos were simply too powerful now.

The last two members of the command squad fought on but there was no hope anymore. They were hopelessly outnumbered.

The forces of Chaos were legion now and perhaps nothing could stop them.

The Trap: Part One - Incursion

Chaos vs Crimson Blades | Gill v Tim | 40k | 55 | 110.997.M41

In the dark centre of the Lapitar jungles, the second Pernicious Gate stood guarded by a ring of defensive bastions.

It was critical beyond measure that the Chaos Space Marines not break through and seize control of it for if they did, a second horde of daemons would fall under their dominion.

But the Chaos forces had been spying on the defences with their scrying tools and they perceived that a hammer blow against a narrow frontage would easily fold back the defensive perimeter - especially with Crimson Blade forces kept busy in multiple other warzones.

And so they came, swooping down in drop ships as dozens of slavering daemons of Khorne materialised and bounded forward.

The marines stationed at the perimeter let fly instantly with explosive bolter shells but it was immediately clear that Lord Morder had been correct in his strategic plan. There were simply too many Chaos troops to hold back.

But then the trap was sprung.

Knowing that a Chaos Incursion was imminent, Alarice Klein, Chapter Mistress, had purposely left the defences weaker in order to manipulate the dark forces to attack.

The second their approach was detected, the signal was given and the hidden forces of the Crimson Blades sprang into action, bikers powering out of the undergrowth and Terminators deep striking down from the Black Scabbard in orbit.

A Land Raider churned out from the jungle cover, disgorging Assault Terminators into the midst of the daemonic approach.

But the Chaos Space Marines had anticipated this and they sprang a trap of their own.

A Chaos Land Raider surged in, Night Lord Assault Marines leaping from it and charging into combat as more and more daemons materialised, closing in on their enemies.

It had meant to be an overwhelming defeat for Chaos but the Crimson Blades were being overrun! They fought back but they were losing men. It was obvious that their only choice was to pull back and form an inner perimeter.

As the mighty Bloodthirster tore through their ranks they realised that, in all likelihood, they had no chance of slowing the Chaos approach to the Pernicious Gate and all the power it contained therein.

Army Showcase: Space Marines

Well it's past time I posted here, and what better way than to showcase my new greatly expanded Space Marine army!

The Crimson Blades!

I'm not going to blabber on telling you what each one is so just sit back and enjoy. 

Sternguard Veterans using shoulder pads from Scibor

To Cut Off The Head: Part Two - Unexpected Friends

Grey Knights & Sisters of Battle vs Valorax Guard & Crimson Blades | Tim v Gill | 40k | 64 | 109.997.M41 

Whatever happened now, it didn't matter. The war was lost.

Ivan Chord, planetary governor, hero of the Manticore War, was dead. Assassinated.

And all Able Standent knew - trooper first class of fourth squad, eight company of the standing Qualitat Defence Force of the Valorax Guard - was that even if his life and the lives of everyone he knew were soon to end; he would die fighting for retribution. Fighting for revenge! 

His squad had been posted in defence of the governor's headquarters when the attack hit and he and all his battle brothers had failed in their duty, fighting off the attacking Adeptus Sororitas and Grey Knights.

As he and his squad took up firing positions in one of the still smoking ruins, Able saw where their enemy were headed: a pair of empty landing pads. Their assassination mission accomplished, the Sisters of Battle had swiftly withdrawn. They were trying to get out of the city before the full force of the Valorax Guard could mobilise and trap them!

They were already in the square below the landing pads!

A column of Leman Russ Battle Tanks rolled down the street beside Abel's position as he blasted the power armoured women with his lasgun, hoping for a lucky strike, but their armour was too good, the cover provided by the ruins too complete.

There was no way to catch them before they escaped!

"Bringer of death," he whispered to his weapon as he blasted away, "speak your name, for you are my life and the foe's death."

Then from the sky came a sound of falling doom and something struck the upper landing pad like a missile.

Able thought it was the enemy retrieval boat... then he saw it crack open and his prayers to the beneficient Emperor were answered. From the smoking drop pod strode the Crimson Blades, already letting fly with bolter shells into the square below and immediately tearing apart the Adeptus Sororitas as they scrambled into cover.

The square was a shooting gallery. The Sisters were trapped. And before they could find a defensive base from the pincer they found themselves in, a second Drop pod came down on the other landing pad, blocking their escape completely.

The Valorax Guardsmen cheered and Able cheered with them. The planetary governor was lost but now the Space Marines were here, fighting alongside them against the greater Imperium. As a line trooper, Able scarce understood the ramifications of this but he knew something momentous had happened.

He knew these new allies made every difference.

But he had no time to savour this change.

The air split and tore in the ruins before them and through the gap in reality strode a towering construct Able had no name for. He saw the silver armoured Terminator strapped to the front of it and saw the weapons turn their way and suddenly knew that this new alliance would mean nothing to him if he were dead.

Morale squads through out massive amounts of fire at the Grey Knights as they appeared, as did the infantry, but as squad after squad of the elite warriors materialised their weapons fire started to falter.

With only two squads of Crimson Blades to help them, surely their was no way to defeat this new enemy!

Then Damien Gord, gigantic company captain of the Crimson Blades appeared in a snapping of reality down in the square beside the Sisters of Battle and let fire his storm bolters.The Sisters of Battle were fleeing for the bunkers next to the landing pads but the crossfire was wiping them out.

The mighty Throne of Judgement fell,m trapping Inquisitor Lord Karamazov beneath it.

And still Abel fired, dropping to his knees, pausing only long enough to rip out his lasgun's steaming power pack and reload.

All around him his squad was dying from storm bolter fire. The Grey Knights strode through the rubble, moving away from the Crimson Blades, out of their range. The Adeptus Sororitas were lost. Able was sure of that. From his position it looked like only a couple of the women still survived; but the Grey Knights were undeterred by this. They calmly hosed down the Valorax Guardsmen, consolidating their position so that they could strike back at the Crimson Blades from a position of strength.

Rocket blasts thundered overhead and Able saw a boxey landing craft blot out the sky as it swooped across the ruins. It was a Stormraven Gunship! More Grey Knights and a Dreadnought!

The magnetic docking clamp at the back released the Dreadnought in mid-swoop and it crashed into the building next to Able's where his commanding officer bellowed into his vox, directing the losing combat.

The Crimson Blades were increasingly cut off from where the battle was moving. They had defeated the Sisters of Battle but they were in no position to redeploy closer to the Grey Knights.

Able could see where this was going.

He muttered the litany of protection. "Mighty Emperor, spread Your divine light to protect me from the darkness."

Grey Knight Terminators ripped the command squad apart as the Dreadnought tore open the armour of the Battle Tanks. The Stormraven slowed and hovered, preparing to disgorge its final cargo.

Then Grey Knight Purifiers fell from its open doors, firing their incinerators into the few remaining guardsmen before them.

Able clambered down from the upper level of his ruins and ran to help but he wasn't fast enough. As the Dreadnought crashed through the remaining tanks, the Purifiers hacked his remaining battle brothers apart.

In a moment of divine panic, Able Standent realised he was the last remaining guardsmen of his company alive.

And he realised that almost four hundred yards separated him from the Crimson Blades who might otherwise have saved him.

Then the Purifiers turned their humming falchion blades on him as well and sliced his flesh and bones to pulp.

With Ivan Chord dead and the Crimson Blades laying their gauntlets in the Valorax camp, the entire planet-wide theatre of battle had shifted immensley.

But all it did was point to an escalating conflict growing further and further out of control!