Kill team: AdMech

Well, I've always dreamed of an AdMech army and now I have on, sort of. What I have is 20 models, split between 10 vanguard and 10 rangers. Now, I know very little of AdMech, so choosing what to do was very difficult but I just went for everything and that seems to have solved it. However, even once I had the force sorted, writing a back story for them has been very hard. Understanding what all the terms mean has taken some time, I mean, what does Mechadominus really mean? Well, it took me a while to understand it all but I think I've got there! So here is a brief backstory;

The Skitarii forces of the are lead by the Tech Priest Dominus Actus Ar Primus 961.34534 and we're once part of the Forge world of Xupra, a minor forge world located in the segmentum pacificus. However, they are now exiled from the forge world and have settled on a new world, a knightly world, where they work with the local Laird and his household but also mount expeditions to the surrounding systems to try and locate useful information, materials or any else they deem necessary. This force is one such force, expedition Omega I5KX and they are tasked with tracking down and identifying the source of rumours detailing apparent archeotech on a nearby planet.  The force is lead by the Skitarii Ranger Alpha-XXVII, one of Actus Ar's most devout followers.

The expeditions forces are split on in to two elements, the Vanguard forces and the Ranger forces and although these forces work in harmony with each other, they still maintain very distinct identities, with The Vanguard forces are commanded by Vanguard Alpha, Alpha-7.

The vanguard Skitarii are the main skirmish troops on the mission, designated for first contacts, search and retrieval and scouting duties. They will lead the way into any situation.

Alpha-7 is the leader of the Skitarii Vanguard forces. He is a seasoned warrior, with many decades of expeditions completed. In all his years, it is not only his knowledge that has grown but also his dedication to the omnissiah, so much so that he would not hesitate for a second to sacrifice his men to secure or defend the precious works of the Omnissiah.

Beta-IV is the second in charge of the Vanguard Skitarii and is very protective of his unit. Not a man to act without first calculating every posibility. And when he does act he will chanting prays to the Omnissiah through the language of the Can't Mechanicus.

Tov-XIX is forever in motion, never resting as the motive forces of the Omnissiah course through his body. Armed with his trusty Plasma Caliver in his hand, Tov can be seen striding across the battle field, constantly in motion seeking his next target or chasing down his chosen quarry.

Delpa-656 is the second member of the Vanguard that is armed with a Plasma Caliver and is quite a different character to Tov-XIX. Where Tov is constantly in motion, Delpa will slowly and carefully stalk and watch,  waiting for the perfect shot, making sure that every burst of plasma hits it target with optimum precision, never wasting the god given munitions.

Fel-110, the wielder of the omnispex and tactical databank, Fel is often at the heart of the Vanguard forces, feeding tactical data and optimal attack angles to his fellow warriors, helping to ensure a successful mission. Fel can usually be found near to Delpa or occasionally Tov, to help ensure that every shot hits home, regardless of where the enemy tries to hide.

Eq-744 is a warrior exemplar, for there is no weakness that can be hidden from his augmented vision. It is for this reason that he has been honoured with carrying the Enhanced Data-tether. As a solid and steadfast figure on the battlefield, never flinching from the enemy and constantly transmitting rallying signals to all members of the Skitarii.

Zhu-79.09\5 is a devout follower of the Omnissiah, following every tenet of the cult mechanicus. Such is his devotion and purity of soul that anything but the most pure machine spirits recoil in his presence. While this is seen as a blessing by many members of the hierarchy it can be very problematic missions in to enemy territory, where many machine spirits have been corrupted or twisted by malignant powers.

Sy-yex-745 is a devout follower of the cult mechanicus and dreams of the days when he can attain a true mechanical body and bring himself closer to the Omnissiah. When ever he goes in to battle he can be heard chanting prays to the Omnissiah, both to call on the help of the Omnissiah in completing whatever task is at hand and also to cause fear within the enemy, knowing that the the unstoppable Force of the adpetus mechanicus is coming for vengeance.

Tyba-666\2 is often looked upon with some suspicion from his fellow Vanguard for his extremely Hardline views on the cult mechanicus. He follows every part of the cult to the letter allowing no deviation, no corruption of the purity of the Omnissiah. This purity of soul is projected so strongly by his conviction that all but the purist machines will recoil and falter in his presence.

Dak-575 follows the tenets of the Omnissiah with unthinking reverence for it is all he has ever know. His belief if the power and omnipresence of the Omnissiah are unshakable and as such he will call out his devotion with every action, especially in the face of the enemy.

The Skitarii Rangers are designated as the main command and control elements on the expedition and also to act as fire support and long range "artillery" while the vanguard go about there duties.

Alpha-XXVII is the leader of the Skitarii Rangers and also in overall command of all Skitarii forces on this mission. Alpha-XXVII has proven himself a loyal follower of the Dominus and an excellent expedition leader, heading many dozens of successful missions. All this knowledge has given him an almost unparalleled databank of information on the enemies of the Omnissiah, no matter what there form, information that can be shared in seconds to the other members to ensure maximum chance of success.

Bheta-668.2 is XXVII's deputy and is often left to lead the Rangers, while XXVII's attending to his other duties as mission leader. Bheta is no less devoted to the Omnissiah than his superior but has yet to reach such levels of seniority. This is mostly due to his zealous nature and his willingness to disregard mission parameters in order to protect the precious work of the Omnissiah, even if such actions will jeopardise the units mission.

Tyba-089 is armed with the Transuranic Arquebus. Known for it's range and accuracy, Tyba uses it to maximum effect for he keeps the weapon and the sprit within as pure and untainted as can been. Through the recitals of litenaries and prayers Tyba keeps all malicious forces from corrupting the workings of his prescious rifle.

Decima-2918 is a warrior exemplar, deadly with any weapon in his hands. However, it is with the Transuranic Arquebus that he has excelled. With his augmented sight and his natural, Omnissiah given patience for the perfect shot, there is little that can escape the attentions of Decimal and his weapon.

Chu-511 strides forward on to the battlefield pronouncing his devotion to the Omnissiah and incantations to ensure his arc rifle functions at the peak of efficiency.

Sek-666\2 hordes knowledge like others horde gold. Sek uses this knowledge to wield his arc rifle with maximum precision, searching his data banks for information and reference points to identify weaknesses and flaws in the enemies armour that can be exploited for maximum impact.

Kas-111 has been gifted with the rangers enhanced Data-tether, for he has a deep reverence for the works of the Omnissiah and will do anything to ensure there protection and with the gift of the enhanced Data-tether he can ensure that all members of the mission are fully committed to the act at hand.

Tyr-2918 is Kas' counterpart and in many respects his twin. While They both have a deep reverence for the works of the Omnissiah and are prepared to do anything to ensure there survival, the both do so in different ways. Tyr believes the best way is to make sure that every shot fired by his brothers strikes home and so carries the Omnispex to identify any hidden targets and guide his fellow Skitarii on to them, so that they maybe destroyed before they can taint or damage the Omnissiah's blessed works.

Dox-744 does not strive for recognition or promotion, he only wishes to ensure the missions success. Dox can usually be seen holding back, data bank collating, sorting and processing any information gleaned from any rangers before ensuring it is passed to all the others, never leaving anyone without information that may ensure victory.

Delpha-404 seeks knowledge with a single mindedness of any tech priest, yet Delpha does not seek knowledge of machines but of flesh and blood, for knowledge is power, the power to destroy. Delpha uses this power to destroy the enemies of the Omnissiah, seeing this as the best way to gather knowledge of the forgotten Machines of the Omnissiah, for with your enemy dead, you can collect and study at your leisure.

Ork waaaarrrhhhh

This short story was written a long time ago now and was originally based on a batrep, played between myself and another member of the club. I had grand plans for writing a story like this for each game I played and making them in to a full narrative but alas, I only wrote one or two and never really got the time to write more. I had originally set up a whole other blog specifically for this purpose but I've since deleted it as it was just sitting there not being used, I did however copy across the few stories written. I decided to put this one up now seeing as the last report was against Orks, I hope you enjoy.


There had been little time to prepare and now the sun was up, it was evident that there preparations wouldn't be enough. The defense line had been erected between a couple of ruined building, part of the old prometium pumping station. The surface pipes were still visible to the front, rising out of the ground only to end in a twisted mess of ruined plasteel pipework, the last signs of an earlier battle that had taken place, some years ago. The fighting then had obviously been brutal, none of the remaining buildings were intact, some were nothing more than piles of rubble, and very little of the structures that were left could be fortified. Even if they could, there was little time for such actions, at best they had an hour, at worst, minutes. Either way, commander Jhonisoun was worried, but then, who wouldn't  be when you've an Ork mob bearing down on you.

The reports were sporadic, conflicting and wildly inaccurate, some stated there were just a few orks, no more than a dozen, others told of thousands, rampaging across the land. If all the reports were accurate, there were just a couple of squads, each a thousand strong, slowly wondering across the land in battle wagons. It didn't matter to the commander though, one Ork or a thousand Orks, they needed to die and they would do so here at Pipe Relay Station 34.

"Contact FRONT!" the shout was loud and clear, albeit in a voice filled with panic and fear. The should had come from one of Lt Wischert's men, up on the forward line.

Jhonisoun looked to his left, at the men who where man handling the quad gun in to place "Is that thing ready yet?" The quick shouts of confirmation was all he needed. Good, at least they had some air cover until the navy planes got here, now if only he know where Lt Sandesoun's lot were. They had left on a recce before dawn and should have been back by now and if this fight got up close and personal, just as the Orks like it, then he would need those men.

The noise grew louder every second, and barely a few minutes had passed since that first warning shout before the bulk of 5 Ork trukks could be seen screaming over or rather through, the remains of the pipe lines.

"Mister Mace, target target the left vehicle. Corporal Leask, shoot one of them, anyone, but hurry up will you. Runner! Runner! Order the Battery to openfire on the lead vehicle. Red Troop, gunners target the vehicle half left." The orders tumbled out, one after another as the commanders mind raced to take in to account everything he could see and hear. The trucks were moving fast, too fast, there was no way that they would be able to deal with them before the mobs were upon them. To his left Master of Ordnance, Artillery Captain Mace, spoke in to his vox caster, issuing coordinates and fire missions in the cool calm voice of a season veteran. Mean while to his front, the veteran Corporals,  Leask and Irvine, lined up the closest trukk in the sights of the missile launcher.

Within seconds the air was alive with fire and smoke as every weapon seemed to come to life at once. The deep thump of the Wyverns against the sharp crack of the autocannons and the roar of the missile launcher against the shriek of the incoming rounds from the MoO's artillery strike. But despite all this, the Orks came on with barely a scratched paint job, all that is except the trukk that bursed in to flames, ork boyz spilling from the flaming trukk. Jhonisoun would  like to have taken some satisfaction in that small victory but it seemed that the Orks had other ideas.

Almost as one, all the trukks slammed on their brakes, skidding to a halt barely meters in front of the defense line, a space that was very quickly filled with huge green skinned monstrosities, and at the center, almost directly infront of the commander, was possibly the biggest and ugliest thing the commander had ever seen. There was no time to do anything else but watch the events unfold before him. It was at time like these that generals were useless, there would be no order or disciplined firing line, only raw fury and the instinct to survive. The gouts of flame off to his right told him that Lt Wischert's command squad were doing their best to hold the right flank and the distant tink and crack of grenade launchers told him that Sandesoun's command squad was off to his left. In front of him was turning in to a blood bath. He had seen a few of the green skins go down under the panicked firing of lasrifles as the brutes charged, but now the Orks were making short work of the guardsmen, although they were not having it all their own way.

One of the few things that Jhonisoun could do, he did. The Quadgun picked up the screaming ork bomber as it flew in low to their left, opening fire in a stream of bright tracers. It was not clear if the rounds struck home or not, the monstrosity was belching black smoke and weaving all over the sky already, it was impossible to tell if there was more or less smoke and movement once the Quadgun had spoken. It was almost the last thing it did as well, as no sooner had it targeted the xenon flyer, it found itself a target of multiple rockets, fired from the trukks, although it appeared that the recent actions and the excitement of the charging mobs had broken the gunners aim, as all but one sailed harmlessly overhead. The one that did strike, only glanced the machine, doing minimal damage.

By the time the initial charge had settled, most of red platoon was down, with just a few guardsmen still standing to his right, most likely due to the priest in their mists. There were few that would run or falter under the glare of one of the emperors chosen disciples. He would have to hope that they would hold.

"Incoming, sir! To the rear! Navy by the looks of it"

The noise of the aircraft engines grew louder, Wolf Slayer and Deliverance, and aboard one of them, probably Wolf Slayer, was Captain Thomassoun and his command squad. Jhonisoun could feel the relief amongst his squad, they had some support and hopefully with it Yellow platoon would emerge. Wolf Slayer made an immediate impact as the lascannon bolts streamed overhead to slice through the ork bomber to Jhonisoun's left and deliverance wasn't far behind, the rocket pods opening up with their characteristic ripping sound, churning up the ground to Jhonisoun's front. It was reassuring to hear, what was not was the whoosh of the heavy Flamer on the front of one of the Wyverns. The sight of the building bellowing flame and smoke was something to behold, but it was not a good sign, that the enemy was so close to the vehicles that the crew were having to use such a close defense weapon.

There was little Jhonisoun could do about it though, as Yellow platoon had yet to show up and the ork warlord and his unit were moving towards his position. It was the sight of the last guardsmen being overrun, as the priest was cut down, that showed just how desperate the situation was. Jhonisoun steeled himself for the Orks attack, but as the Orks approached and raised their weapons, it was clear to Jhonisoun that the battle was lost.

 The flames ended all further though.

The flames leapt from the barrels of the Orks guns, washing over Jhonisoun and his command squad, it was all the commander could do to pray for a quick death.

.....

The lights were a dim red. The vibrations unsettling and constant. But As the commander came to, it was the noises that had the most impact, not the humming of the engines, no it was the moaning and groaning of dozens of men. Jhonisoun could not move, couldn't look around, all he could see was the underside of the stretcher on the rack above him. He blinked and stared at it for some time before he could figure out why it didn't quite look right. He was looking through only one eye, his left. The memories of those last few minutes on the battle field were painful, almost as painful as the sensations that were starting to return to him.

"Commander, your back with us then? For a moment I didn't think you were going to make it"

The commander stared at the man. Was he one of his? No, wrong uniform. A Yeoman, one of the Hrossey Yeomanry. That would explain the chimera.

"What happened? Who claims the field?"

The answer was not what he had hoped to hear, but he had to admit, not as bad as he had feared.

Thomsssoun had dropped from the vendetta to try and save the commander, but had been gravely wounded taking down several of the beasts. Both the wyverns of the 56th had been damaged by the rampaging Orks and would need the careful ministrations of the techpriests to function again, but worst of all, red platoon had been decimated. Yellow platoon had swept through the position, arriving too late to do anything but collect bodies. While the Orks had been eliminated, there was no way to hold the field and so yellow platoon had gathered up the wounded, loaded the worst on the the navy planes and had withdrawn, leaving the Orks to do the same.

The 851st were out of the fight for the moment. They needed to lick their wounds, deep and painful as they were. But they would return, they would reclaim the field, Jhonisoun swore to that, or at least he would have done, had he not have fallen unconscious.

Game 2

This was the second game that I played a few weeks back and I forgot to say that these games were 1250 point games in preparation for Northern Invasion tournament. While I didn't attend due to family and work commitments, I did have several games against people who were going, mostly just to give them some practice.

The game itself was one of the missions from the Chapter Approved 2019 book and although I can't remember the name now, it's the one with the objective on the middle that you score points for when your within a certain range. Now, mistakes were made, big ones at that. The main one really was the Null Zone rule was missed and so the big blob of Boyz in the middle with the nob(?) With a kustom force field shouldn't have been getting the 5++ save. Anyway, we didn't pick up that one until the 3rd turn, by which point it was pointless changing the rules.

Anyway, let's talk about the game and I'll mention the other mistakes as we go.

Deployment

The guard, screen to the front and heavies to the back, plus a few units strung out to stop anyone da jumping in to my back field.

The orks, blobbed up around the mech(??) With the kustom force field. There's some Gretchen strung outs around the place to stop my deep striking units as well.

A closer shot of the mass of Orks

The orks did what was expected turn 1 and charged forward and as expected a big squad of 30 Boyz da jumped forward smashing a sentinel to bits and then, thanks to an. 11 inch initial charge, consolidate in to my lines, where mistake number 3 happens (I'll go back to mistake 2 shortly) my opponent payed 2cp to fight again, wiping out 2 squads of guardsmen, mauling a third and then consolidating in to my hellhound. Now, this shouldn't have happened and was actually picked up by my opponent after the game because as the guardsmen we're not targets of the charge, the couldn't have been targets for the second attack. Yes they could have been consolidated in to but not attacked. That would have left my right flank almost intact instead of badly mauled

The Boyz swarming the lines

Mistake 2, if you can see, there are 4 guns in the centre building. They are vehicles and that's a ruin, so they can't be set up there, so they should have been on the ground and out of cover, plus there lines of sight would have been a lot more restricted.

The fight back 

After the initial hit the guard fought back, managing to clear the lines of the initial Ork attack but this left much of the middle untouched. As a result the orks took the points in the first turn, plus first blood, putting them up 2-0.

The Orks at the end of turn 1

Turn 2 started as turn 1 did, the Orks advanced. There was a bit of shooting, mostly from the cannons, with the tractor cannons doing most of the heavy lifting, destroying one of my wyverns and somewhere along the line my hellhound also went pop. By this point I had taken a battering with the orks being relatively untouched.

The advance

I was running out of options at this point, so gambled and dropped in my scions on the flank, hoping to take out some of the orks and more importantly some of the characters. While it didn't take out any of the characters, it did cause the Boyz in the centre to pivot and came across the board to take them out, this along with a very brave platoon commanders charging up the middle did cause some issue for the Orks. Unfortunately they were dealt with pretty easily.

The brave and soon to be very dead platoon commander.

By now things were pretty dire. I was down 3 to 0 and with only 1 point per turn for the objective and only slay the warlord and line breaker on offer I would have to perform miracles to win. Any thought of miracles went out the window when my opponent played the stratagem that let him bring one of the Boyz squads back at full strength (endless green tide I think). So a squad that was down to about 4 or 5, went back to 30 and my second wyvern, while still alive, was wounded badly.

Lots of Orks, not many guard.

I did what I could in my turn but it really wasn't enough. The big group of Boyz on the flank we're still locked up with the last member of the scions, so couldn't be targeted, the KFF was doing a Sterling job keeping everyone safe in the middle and my dice were horrible. My opponents dice were on fire however!

The final stand

He's in there somewhere! Mines the grey one in the middle of the ring on the right hand side!

So at the end of turn 3 I was 4 - 0 down and time was definitely running out for the guard. Turn 4 was the final straw, as the remaining Orks or rather the Gretchen went to work on the remaining guard squads, removing over half of those that remained and claiming the centre objective for a 4th turn.

The few remaining guard.

Lots of orks

At this point I conceded as I was running out of units and we were also running out of time. At this point I was 5 to 0 and was looking at that going to at least 6, but likely 7 to 0 with line breaker. If I was really unlucky, then they might have got warlord for the full house and an 8 - 0 score line.

As I said at the beginning though, mistakes were made. Without the KFF and the 5++ save it gave, then a lot more orks would have died. The case in point was when a boy took a melta gun to the face and survived. Knowing the Null Zone was in effect would have changed a lot, including how my opponent set up, thus, how the how game played out. Not having my right flank wiped out by a charge that shouldn't have happened would also have changed the game. I lost nearly 3 whole squads and my hellhound got shut down. With 3d6 auto hits on the flames and the -1ap, quite a few orks would have been BBQ'd, plus all the extra lasguns and flamers that were in there would have taken down some more, freeing up at least one wyvern, or possibly both, to go after the other squad of Boyz, who probably wouldn't have been under the KFF. Finally, without the artillery being in the ruin, they probably wouldn't have been able to see the wyverns without being open and exposed and more vulnerable to the wyverns as well. Of course, you can never tell what the dice will do but the game would have been very different and who know maybe the guard would even have won!

I would like to add that I know my opponent was not cheating or being dishonest in any way, shape or form during this game. It was a new army and he was learning g the rules, if I had picked up on any of the errors during the game, they would have been rectified with no argument and so also accept that part of the blame for these errors lies with me. Hopefully we'll get time for a rematch sometime soon.

Game 1

This is the first of three games that I played a few weeks ago. The yearly local tournament is coming up shortly. This tournament is a 1250 point tournament and although there are few restrictions the key one is that there is only lord of war option allowed. this was due to last years tournament when a knight army (at 1500 points) wiped the table in all three games and took the trophy with little difficulty. While there was nothing wrong with the list, it wasn't very much fun for everyone else by the sound of it.

Anyway on to the game, we played a Maelstrom of war game at the above mentioned 1250 points of guard against Space Wolves. My opponent was running a fairly heavy list with three dreads, including one redemptor.

There was little was really bothered about in the list apart from the blood claws in the drop pod.

The three dreads.

The guard lines.

Turn 1 was as expected with the drop pod coming in and the blood claws charging the guard lines.

The charge

The wolves did as they were expected and tore into the lines taking out several squads of guard.

The result.

All of the rest of the wolves either stood still.and shot or advanced forwards.

In my first turn the primary goal was to clear my lines, which ianaged to do, although some mistakes were made, such as leaving the hellhound until last, meaning most of the targets were out of range!

The fight back starts.

The guard rally

At the end of turn 1 things weren't really going my way, with my opponent t scoring all 3 of his cards (21,33 and 52) and first blood and me scoring nothing (cards 11, 51 and 52, discarded 11). This out me 5-0 down already

End of the turn 1

Turn 2 started much slower, with the dreads reaching my lines, while much of the rest stayed back. The plasma long fangs did some damage to one of the wyverns but the guard survived fairly intact.

Dreads in the line

A better view of the danger.

The big thing to happen this turn was the charge of the dreads. Despite what it looks like in the pictures, the dreads went a different way and the right dread charged the hellhound and the left dread charged the units in front of the right hand dread. The left hand dread made it's charge and went chop chop through a number of guardsmen but failed to do enough damage to kill them and consolidate on to the wyvern. The other dread, well we've no idea if it would have made it's charge as the hellhound barbequed it before it had a chance, granted it was already wounded, down to a handful of wounds but still.

Reinforcements arrive

Slightly out of order but it's a pain to reorder pictures on mobile, the final result of the dreads charges.

During my turn, I dropped in my scions, only for one lot to get wiped out by the redemptor using a stratagem. The others did there job, taking down a number of long fangs and grey hunters between the two remaining squads. The rest of the army dealt the other dread, clearing the lines once more.

By now the scores had even out, with my opponent scoring nothing (cards 26, 36 and 46, he discarded 46). I on the other hand did pretty well, scoring all of mine (21, 51 and 52) plus stealing his card (26), to give a score of 5-4.

Turn 3 was unfortunately the last turn due to time constraints. I didn't as many pictures as we were busy trying to get the turn done. The wolves we're lacking in numbers by now but still managed to put a take down the majority of my reserves.

Two SW characters charge in, the result of which can be seen in the back of the picture below.

While the wolves struggles to really dent the remaining guard, the guard also struggled to dent the remaining wolves.

Somehow the sentinel survived a round of combat with a redemptor, it didn't survive two though.

At the end of turn three things weren't as I had expected. My opponent had managed to score 2 points from his cards ( 64 and 65 but not 46) and I had not managed to score any of mine (34, 35 and 41). Once we had taken line breaker in to account the scores were 8-4 in favour of the wolves, despite how few of there units remained on the table. At the end of turn 3, the wolves had the redemptor, an injured iron priest (who was also the warlord), one plasma cannon long fangs and a couple of grey hunters (I can't remember exactly how many but it was only 2 or 3) where as the guard had both wyverns, a hellhound, 3 incomplete squads of guard, several characters and a couple of scions. At this point we did some quick and rough mathhammer and we look at the cards we would have drawn. I cat remember what cards we drew but with what was on the table and looking at the cards it was looking like the guard would have been able to take victory should the game go on. The big issue was the redemptor as I was rapidly running out of things to damage it, however, there was little in my army that it could not damage in return.

So the final score went down as a 8 to 4 loss for the guard, which should have been an 8 to 5 if I'd actually though a little at the end and ran a model in to my opponents deployment zone. Oh well. So, although it was a loss for the guard, I really don't think I didn't anything wrong or would change anything to much, as if the game had gone 5 turns I think I would have been able to pull in to the lead as I had the bodies left to get to objectives and claim points.

Kill Team: Inquisition

So, my second kill team is complete. With the completion on my guard kill team I moved on to my guard kill team. Ok so while that is true, it's a bit inaccurate. The first kill team was a pure guard list and this is a pure Scion list.

Lead by Inquisitor Tullus (using the Tempestor rules) this team is built around the idea of an Inquisitor and his retinue of retainers. There are 20 members in total, making a full roster which won't change much, as I don't plan on adding on any elites to the force.

Despite the force being lead by Inquisitor Tullus, the one model that I haven't actually painted yet is Inquisitor Tullas. I had been waiting until I could spend a significant period of time on the model and really do it justice but I got distracted and painted a whole AdMech kill team instead (more on that later).

One of the main points of note on this roster is that Tullus has had a bit of a transformation. From this;

Marcas Tullus

To this;

Sophiana Tullus

But who is Tullus? The main story can be found HERE but for a short version read on; Marcas Tullus, who is now Sophiana Tullus, is a radical Xanthan Inquisitor, who is willing to do what ever it takes to defend the imperium. Armed with plasma pistol, a relic power sword (rumoured to be of Eldar origin) and here baton of office, she is a formidable force.

Vox caster Egaryn, Sgt Dharem and Medic Gorskia

Next up is Sargeant Dharem (also using the Tempestor rules), Tullus' right hand man. A Pious man by nature, putting as much, if not more, faith in the Emperor for his survival, as he does in his fist and pistol. The fist itself is not just for show but takes the place of his own ruined hand, one ruined during a campaign against a chaos cultists long ago and would probably have meant the death of Dharem, if not for the timely arrival of Tullus and accompanying space Marines. The plasma pistol is also a reminder of that day, although the actual weapon used that fateful day has long since been destroyed, the current weapon was a gift from Tullus and is amongst the finest weapons money can buy.

Acolyte Egaryn fulfils two roles within the retinue, that of Vox Caster and also Standard Bearer. While he occasionally carries a traditional Vox Caster set, he is more often seen carrying a modified standard, with a vox caster system cleverly hidden withing the staff. Egaryn is a very gung-ho, often seen standing at the front, standard held high for all to see, pistol in hand.

Acolyte Gorskia is the retinue's apothacary (or medical officer). Gorskia is as Pious as any member of the retinue, although where others rely on there faith to protect them, Gorskia relies on her faith to heal and help her fellow acolytes.

Trevinskia, Ralpe, Sonnam, Varencia

Trevinskia is a hard as nails, ex-ganger from the back of beyond. She was recruited by Tullus from the holding cells of the local Arbites and is as courageous and fearless as they come.  Trevinskia's weapon on choice in the gangs was the heavy stubber, mostly for it's ability to put lots of lumps of metal towards her target as quickly as possible, so when she was recruited in the the Inquisition it was natural for her to migrate towards the hotshot volley gun,  which she uses with the same deadly efficiency she had with the stubber.

Ralpe was a guardsman from a small agriworld and is one of the longest serving acolytes of Tullus' retinue. Ralpe however has a very different view on things to many of his counterparts, as where they are all willing to sacrifice themselves out of loyalty to Tullus, Ralpe is driven only by duty. Yes he is loyal to the Inquisitor but his duty to the Emperor is far more important to him.

Sonnam, the man with a thousand lives. While Sonnam is probably, if not the best shot out of everyone, he is also beyond doubt the most stupid. Barely a missing goes by where he does not end up in the medical suite with self inflicted injuries from overcharging his plasma gun, something he does alarmingly often for his squad mates.

Varencia also wields a plasma gun, although she is generally far more sensible when overcharging the volatile weapon, which is probably down to her more formal and arguably superior training while she was an enforcer on her home planet. While she may not be as good a shot as Sonnam she is far more courageous, willing to put herself in harm's way in order to get a better shot or to ensure that the target is eliminated.

El'Shan, Graf, Viers, Mohalli

El'Shan is, as you would expect of a man who's favorite weapon is a flamer, as mad as they come. El'Shan was recruited from the more undesirable part of the Empire and is about as macho as they come and will always try to muscle his way to the front of any encounter, regardless of whether his flamer will be useful or not. 

Graf is an old soldier, recruited at a fairly old age for an acolyte. This has not stopped him making quite a name for himself withing the team. A close friend of El'Shan and, despite there differences, the two can often be found fighting along side each other, although Graf does not like to get quite as close, preferring to stay a little further back and unleash a steady stream of grenades from his launcher.

Viers is distinctly different from Graf. A consummate professional, Viers prefers the application of precision over quantity. Viers is seen as cold and aloof by the other acolytes but he was not always this way. Many years ago you would have known him as the life and soul of any company but after the massacre of his fellow squad mates by traitors from within his own regiment, he has been consumed by the need for vengeance and has made a personal vow to destroy those responsible for the traitorous act.

Mohalli is probably the most loyal of all Tullus' retinue and will follow any and all orders given to the letter, never deviating. Armed with her favourite weapon, her trusted melta. Despite it's short range Mohalli favours the weapon for it's lethal killing power that little can escape when hit.

Kleiss is a man on the edge. After years of service and having witnessed unspeakable sights, Kleiss' mind is on the edge of the abyss. There are few things that he will bulk at and even fewer that he will not gladly stand he ground against, or even advance against. Kleiss has few dreams these days, except to die gloriously for the emperor.

Swiftrider was born and breed on a tribal world and was immersed in the ways of tribal warriors from birth. One key facet of this was to always answer a challenge and Swiftrider is always quick to accept, whether the challenge comes from a cultists or a bloodthirster! Swiftrider is never happier than when closing in for that final blow.

Khaleeth is also from a tribal world but one very different from swiftriders, for the status of an individual is secondary to the tribes. As such Khaleeth sees his duty  more as a protector of this tribe, than  and will go out of his way to ensure the survival of it's members, as a tribe is strongest when all members are still alive to actually fight.

Axel is a born warrior, born on the streets of an underhive somewhere in the imperium's outer reaches, he grew up fast, else he perish in some dark corner somewhere. Conscripted in to the guard at a young age, he had to learn to fight a whole new way but took many of the lessons of his youth with him. One of the many things he learnt through the this time was that cowardice get you killed a lot quicker and so Axel vowed to become the most courageous soldier he could be, which is what got him noticed but the Inquisitor.

Creed considers himself an expert in all things warfare related and in many respects he isn't far wrong. Hailing from the world of Cadia, he, like all Cadian children, was taught the arts of warfare from a very young age and with his service in the Shock Troops and later the Kasrkin before his years with the Inquisitor have given Creed a welth of knowledge to draw upon.

Chernovia. There are some within the team, like Graf, who will tell tales of there adventures soldiering around the Galaxy and there are some, like Viers, who's past is less well know and then there is Chernovia. What the other acolytes know of her could be written on the back of your hand and there would still be room to spare. What is know is that she is young, female and high born, that and she never takes her mask off in public. She rarely speaks and even when she does it's with the aid of amplifiers in her mask. What else is know is that she is haunted by some nightmare or another, at night her screams can be heard throughout the ship.

Arvina is a haunted by all that she has seen, haunted by the helpless that she feels every time she witnesses another massacre by chaos cultists. She has sworn to do whatever it takes to avenge those who are so cruelly treated and that is why she follows the Inquisitor.

Hammer is a Catachan and that should tell you everything you need to know about him. More requisition than recruited when the Inquisitor needed a tracker to trace a cult leader through a jungle swamp. That was many years ago and Hammer has just continued acting as tracker and scout ever since.

The long night

This was a price of fiction I wrote a while ago, originally it was about a group of scions on a mission but the story seemed to just wonder without any idea of where it was going, so it got shelved for several years until recently. I decided that I would get rid of a couple of blogs that I had that I was just not using at all and this sat on one of them, so I repurposed it to I introduce a couple of new characters. I hope you enjoy.



He rose unsteadily to his feet, coughing the dust out of his lungs as he did. It didn't help much, for the dust was still everywhere, coating every surface, rising to fill the air with every little disturbance. He stood, waiving on his feet, and unclasped the hydro pack from his right hip. At first he tried to wash the dust out of his mouth but soon gave up, not wishing to waste what precious little liquid he had left. As he sipped on the warm, stale liquid, he surveyed the immediate surroundings, starting with the ground at his feet. His eyes soon spotted what he was looking for, his lasgun, its sighting unit smashed beyond repair. The weaponsmith won't be happy about that, he thought as he stooped to collect the weapon but as he reached out his hand he stopped and stared at the blank space where the end of his arm use to be. His vision wavered as the pain shot up his left arm and through his entire body. Acting quickly he grabbed a strap and tied it on as tight as he could before reaching down again and scooping up his rifle In his right hand.

As he returned to surveying his surrounding, he could see the devastation that had been brought on by the commanders last vox cast. The building was a wreck. Where there had once been grand palace walls, covered in beautiful and intricately detailed scenes of the imperium, the feast of the emperor ascendant, the victory of the Lord Solar Macharius and the glorious golden throne but to name a few, there was now nothing but piles of rubble. Where once the magnificent vaulted ceiling had been, the sky was now clearly visible, dark and foreboding. This glorious palace, that stretched for miles in all directions, with numerous court yards and terraces, ballrooms and function hall, was naught but dust and rubble. The navy had been as lethal and efficient as could be expected, however he couldn't relax just yet. Despite the look of the place, something told him he wasn't alone, afterall, if he had survived, then others could have as  well and there was no telling if they were going to be friend or foe.

he would have liked to have put his helmet back on and tried the local vox net to try identified how many of his squad still lived but all that he could see of his helmet was part right side and half an ear piece, neither of which were attached to anything else. Hopefully he might find a replacement helmet elsewhere, either he'd borrow one or find one that no longer had an owner, at least not one that was living.

Looking around at where he last remembered seeing his squad proved pointless, there were no signs, none at all. The one good thing was that the swarms of cultists has also dissapeared under the rubble. It was these cultists that had forced them to call on the navy. They were a writhing mass of madden, half animal, wild eyed once humans, who thought nothing of there own lives or of the lives of those around them. They had pushed forward, a wall of flesh, armed with all sorts of improvised weapons and Dharem and his squad, along with the rest of the platoon, had cut them down by the score with well aimed and constant volley fire but even as the lasguns, flamers and grenade launchers did there stuff, the mass came ever closer. That fateful discision had been made when they had been forced in to the chamber, only to be met with Three platoon coming the other way, their situation an exact replica of their own and to make matters worse, more of the crazed cultists were starting to pour in from all the other chamber entrances. It was soon evident that even with both platoons, there was little chance that they would survive, the commanders had decided that by calling in an orbital bombardment and using their vox casters as homing beacons, they could ensure that as many heretics as possible died.

As he started towards an exit, well, what he assumed was an exit anyway, he sensed movement off to his right. With out even thinking, his lasgun was up and ready for what ever was under the rubble, even if his vision swam with the effort of holding the rifle steady with his ruined arm. It didn't take long to figure out what or rather who was under the rubble, as no sooner had he honed in on the source of the movement, it let forth a stream of curses and foul language. Dharem relaxed slightly and reslung his lasgun before moving at assist trooper Ushad, for it was without a doubt who was underneath, no-one else could or would roll off that many curses in one sentence.

"Ushad, keep it down will you! Do you want everyone to know were here?"

"Corpral? That you? You alive?"

"No I'm dead, of course I'm alive! Now shut up and lets get you out of there"

It took a lot longer to get Ushad out than hoped, for although he was not seriously injured, his left arm was pinned and broken by a large chunk of broken column. When they finally freed him, it became evident that his arm was not the only broken item, both is helmet and rifle were damaged beyond repair, at least field repairs. His helmet was sporting a dent as big as an astarties first and his rifle had shorted and fused the power core, something Dharem doubted even the weaponsmith could fix. On the plus side, at least for Ushad, all his rations were still intact. Dharam couldn't help by smile at the sheer joy displayed by Ushad at that discovery!

"We need to move, find a better defensive position and wait for the next units that come through"

"Should we check for the others?"

"We'll do a quick scan on the way out, but were not hanging around any longer than we need to" and with that he turned and walked across the room.

It took most of 30 minutes to check the room, and while there was little to see, they were able to confirm numerous dead troopers and a significant number of heretics, the exact number was unknown as they stopped counting when it became evident that there were a lot of them. During the search they also found 4 surviving cultists, not that they survived long after that, each being dispatched as quickly and quietly as could be managed. More importantly they found troopers Alem and Mohal, both injured and in Mohals case, quite seriously.

So it was that the four of them left the chamber, re-equipped and re-armed, although, while Dharem was now armed with a plasma pistol, a slightly battered and bruised plasma pistol at that, he still did not have a working helmet or any other form of comms, which was worrying as they needed to get out as soon as possible or at least let people know they were there. Dharem decided to head towards what he hoped was one of the large courtyards, large enough to defend and maybe even get a lift out.

The progress was slow, with all the members being injured. Dharem was on point, although every muscle in his body ached and despite the strapping on his arm, he was still loosing blood at a dangerous rate. Ushad was bringing up the rear as he was in the next best condition, suffering with his crushed and broken arm. Lucky being a man of great strength, he could wield his new rifle one handed with relative ease.  Alem was suffering with what he suspected was a broken leg and possibly a few broken ribs, although his armour was helping a lot in supporting him as he walked. The worst casualty was Mohal, he was coughing up blood now, and from the look of him he was bleeding internally somewhere. It was obvious that he wouldn't last long.

As the group made their was slowly towards there objective they came across several cultists, luckily they were only in ones and occasionally twos and all were injured. The group wasted no time in dispatching the heretics as quietly and as quickly as possible, less they alert anyone else near by. As they neared the square Dharem had chosen to hole up in, they could all hear the low chant, one none of them recognized the chant, nor the language being used. As the four of them crouched in the darkness of a ruined archway and even more worrying sound could be heard. Deep booming foot falls and more than one set at that. What mutant, unholy monstrosity was chasing them down the hallway Dharem did not know but there was really only one option.

"Ready weapons, Alem take the front, Ushad the rear" Dharem made sure to speak with a clear and confident voice, hoping to bolster the waving nerves of the troopers around him.

"That won't be necessary, Corporal" spoke a voice, full of the confidence that Dharem could only dream of right now. "Brother Sargeant Kael, take your men and clear out the square ahead and call the Blackstar"

With those words, 5 hulking forms moved pass the stranger, moving with a speed and swiftness that belied there true size.

With the sound of gunfire up ahead, the stranger turned to face Corporal Dharem.

"Well met Corporal, my name is Inquisitor Tullus. I believe the square in front of us is now clear, let's see if we can get you some medical attention."