Incident at Formosa V (7000 pt 4 way battle report!)

Played this on wednesday taking Knights Templar...it ROCKED

On the barren planet of Formosa V, in they year M41 999.887 a curious event occurred. No less than four esteemed chapters of the Adeptus Astartes squared off against each other. The results of the battle and its true causes are lost in records probably deleted from each chapter’s reports to the Administratum, but the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Eziel Thoth has been able to furnish this council with his own findings:

It seems that on this planet a curious device was uncovered by a scouting party of Iron Hands marines, while on desert training in the harsh southern deserts. The device uncovered seems to have been Imperial in nature, perhaps a lost relic of the past, or a maybe such a significant find that the Iron Hands felt they needed more resources to properly extract it and study it.
They sent a general call to their Chapter for aid. However before their own fleet could arrive a task force from the nearby Ultramarines landed, demanding the iron hands turn the finding over to them as a relic of the 16th Legion. The Iron Hands could find no evidence of this and refused.
The Iron Hands fleet arrived and relations turned distinctively cool as the two Space Marine leaders increasingly found their demands and arguments falling on deaf ears.
Then a third fleet arrived.
The Dark Angels, under Master Azrael himself, made planetfall, and declared the device was not an Ultramarine relic at all but a Dark Angels relic gifted to the Ultramarines many millennia previous, and contained technology that the Dark Angels now required. This is probably the truth, though it also possible the device belonged to one of the Dark Angels “Fallen” (nothing is beyond the knowledge of the Ordo Malleus!)
Again, the Iron Hands could find no irrefutable evidence of this.
Relations cooled further, to the point of the Ultramarines captain Tyranus drawing his sword against the Iron Hands Iron Father. At this point the Iron Hands asked Azrael to intervene, but Azrael declared he would only side with the captain who would give him the device. To this Tyranus reluctantly agreed, and the Iron Hands forces were set to be faced against two detachments of Space Marine chapters.
The Iron Hands sent a distress call into the immaterium, fearing the device was somehow tainted and had taken the minds of the esteemed Dark Angels. Aid arrived in the form of Master Valeric and his Knights Templar.
When Valeric made planetfall he openly chastised Captain Tyranus for demeaning the Ultramarines name, and only held back against Azrael due to the dread reputation of the first founding Chapter Master.
However at dawn the next day Azrael declared he had had enough of waiting and would seize the device as it was too important to be left in “lesser hands”.

So the Iron Hands and Knights Templar faced off against the Ultramarines and Dark Angels.....

The forces were impressive
, The Iron Hands had brought no less than three full devastator squads, aligned on the hill to the bottom of the small valley, with an impressive 8 multi-meltas and a rhino with two plasma cannon marines. Along with this the Iron Father had with him an honoured razorback for himself and his command squad, along with his honoured Apothecary. Two more rhinos carried the troop forces, hoping to hold back the Ultramarines through superior firepower. Along with this, secretly preparing on board the “Anvil of Truth” was a select squad of sternguard, checking their combi-meltas in preparation for battle. A squad of scouts completed the Iron Hands forces, the same scouts who had first found the device. 6 sniper rifles, a heavy bolter, and 3 bolt pistols they brought to the battlefield.

The Ultramarines by contrast had brought a lot of firepower in the form of vehicles. No less than 3 razorbacks w/ t-l lascannons. A Godhammer land raider, a squad of terminators, 2 tactical squads, one under the command of sergeant Harkus, a name not unknown to the other forces, along with an assault squad, a vanguard squad and a 2 man attack bike squad and Captain Tyranus himself with his command squad.

The Dark Angels had brought only a minimal force to the planet, with most of their marines waiting in orbit to be brought down by Thunderhawk. At the battle’s start Azrael and his command squad were ensconced in their land raider crusader, with two tactical squads aboard rhinos and a single dreadnought with whining lascannon and missile launcher , backed up by a Whirlwind which took position at the other end of the valley from the Iron Hands.

And finally the Knights Templar. Having seen the forces arrayed against the Iron Hands Valeric had decided the main “foe” would be the Dark Angels. Set them running and the Ultramarines could be brought to heel. To this end he deployed his Sword Storm . No less than 5 rhinos containing his best troops (including his honoured Knight Protector squad under the watchful eye of Auric the Blademaster), complimented by 3 predators.

Deploying near a set of ancient ruins, which the Iron Hands scouts had occupied, the Knights and Hands waited for the Angels and Ultramarines to make the first move....

They didn’t have to wait long.

With a rumble of heavy engines the Dark Angels and Ultramarines surged forwards over the crest of the valley. The Ultramarine bikes swiftly covered the distance to get near the Knight Templar forces, stopping near the protection of the ruins, or so they thought. The Ultramarines razorbacks moved forward, their lascannon turrets scanning for targets. The Godhammer stopped before a shallow depression, its twin-linked lascannons already getting data on the distant Iron Hands razorbacks.
The Dark Angels rhinos moved through the cracked and torn mud plain to the north west, the rhinos ignoring the danger the terrain posed, the Crusader rumbling behind them. The Dreadnought ponderously walked to find a better firing position....
A single comms burst was the only communication for the whole battle between the opposing forces.
“Stand down or die” was all Azrael dictated.
He was met with silence.
The first weapon fire came from the Whirlwind, its massive missile launcher hurling Vengeance missiles in a barrage against the armour of the Knights Templar rhinos.
Valeric shared a sly grin with Auric as the deadly rain pattered around the armoured hull of “Veangeful Fury” without so much as a dent in any of the Templar vehicles.

The Iron Hands were not so lucky. The lascannons of 2 Razorbacks and the Godhammer spoke. The Iron hands vehicles found tracks torn off, vehicles rocked and shaken and their carefully prepared targeting data sent haywire by the chaos of the Ultramarines’ first strike. Thankfully though, no Iron Hands were killed.
The Knights Templar then felt the fury of the Ultramarines’ Bike Squad. Their multi-Meltas found the range of “Valeric’s Blade” and the searing heat of the weapons set off the racks of ammunition inside the venerable rhino. With a Crump the rhino’s doors and hatches blew off and the machine flew ten feet in the air. From out of the wreckage came Squad Gunric, their armour dented but all had survived, setting their steely gaze on the blue armoured foe that had destroyed their beloved transport.
The venerable predator tank “Templar’s Fist” was also not so lucky, as a lucky hit from one of the Ultramarines Razorbacks lascannon tore into the right sponson, destroying the lascannon there.
The Iron Hands and Templars responded immediately.

With a throaty roar of engines the remaining Templar rhinos surged up towards the Dark Angels forces, with the Predator “Destructor of Talos” aiding them. The remaining predators in the centre of the defending battle line did not move, instead turning their turrets and sponsons, choosing their targets.
Sergeant Gunric, choosing not to try and engage the bikers who had robbed him of his transport, instead led his squad to the cover of the building, following the rhinos his brothers were in
Having moved as far as they could, the melta gunners in the lead rhinos opened fire against the Dark Angel rhinos. The first managed to wreck the lead rhino....and Valeric watched with growing battle hunger as the battered Dark Angel squad emerged from the smoking transport.
The second melta gunner only managed to immobilise the other rhino, though he was satisfied with the result as it meant his battle brothers would soon be able to take the fight to the trapped Dark Angels.
The snipers on the roof of the building fired their rifles at the bikes below, managing to wound one of the Ultramarines, but not enough to drive them off.
The Iron Hands boldly played their trump card. Fired with accuracy only Space Marines can achieve, the drop pod containing the vaunted Sternguard landed directly behind the Godhammer Land Raider. Charging out with murder in their eyes and their combi-weapons charged, the veterans were ready to take aim at the leviathan tank.
The razorback containing Iron Father Pradus and his command squad also broke ranks this turn, seeking to take the fight to theUltramarines razorbacks threatening the Iron Hands armour.

With a rising whine of charging weapons, the Iron Hands then opened fire. The Multi-Meltas of the devastator squads sought out and found the razorbacks of the ultramarines, lashing them with searing bolts of intense heat. At the end of the fusillade 2 razorbacks were immobilised and the third rocked enough to stun the crew inside. The Plasma Cannons also found their range, obliterating the tactical squad of Ultramarines that were protecting the Godhammer, allowing the Sternguard to take careful aim unimpeded.
The sternguard, taking advantage of this, unleashed a storm of melta shots at close range against the rear of the Godhammer. Melting their way through the colossal engine they could hear the roar of anguish as the Machine Spirit was destroyed by the sheer destruction wrought by the combi-weapons. Soon the massive ancient vehicle was a smoking wreck.
Forge Father Pradus got out of his razorback and raised his combi-melta against the enemy razorback before him. As he was about to fire though the air crackled around him, and a sense of dread filled him. The Ultramarines had more forces waiting in reserve!

With a roar of displaced atmosphere and a burst of light, 5 terminators appeared on the battlefield, near the command squad of Pradus. But more horrifyingly for the devastators not only did an assault squad come swooping down out of the air, buts seven ghostly shapes materialised in front of the tactical squad rhinos......The Legion of the Damned had come to aid their Ultramarine brothers!
Alongside this another squad of assault marines swept down to face the sternguard...and these were no ordinary assault marines. Vanguard ultramarines had come to avenge the loss of the Godhammer
At this point the 5 man squad of Sergeant Harkus left the protection of the razorback in front of the Iron Father, and moved to engage the stoic enemy.

The Terminators unleashed a hail of fire against Pradus, but his apothecary and the nature of Pradus’ armour meant the 6 man squad remained standing.
The Legion of the Damned raised their bolters and fired at the exposed Devastators, ignoring for now the threat of the tactical squads still in their armoured shells. 4 devastators went down to the terrible unexpected fusillade.
Harkus’ squad fired their bolters into Pradus’ men, managing at last to fell one.
The razorbacks remaining operational fired at the Templar predators in the middle of the field. “Praetor’s Fist” exploded, while “Templar’s Blade” was left immobilised but still very much a threat.
In assault the Sterngaurd could not stand up against their Vanguard enemy, even as they raised their combat blades the Ultramarines elite were among them, carving into ceramite with chainswords and power weapons, their jetpacks allowing them to dodge and charge into the stricken Iron Hand elite with contemptuous ease. Even though 2 vanguard were laid low, the Sternguard were wiped out.

The Iron Hands now were in desperate need of their overwhelming firepower coming good. The tactical squads left the rhinos, steeling themselves to take on the mysterious Legion of the Damned.
Meanwhile the razorback behind Pradus swivelled its heavy bolter to aim at the terminators.
The devastator squads aimed their missile launchers and multi-meltas at the legion of the damned and the very close assault squad....

Disaster! The missile launchers fired, but scattered, instead of using kraks the iron hands had chosen frags, and the shrapnel bit into their armour in a hail of razorsharp blades. Only 4 of the 8 man squad remained!
The multi-meltas lashed the legion of the damned, but their deathly nature allowed them to shrug off nearly all the deadly rays. Only 1 out of the 7 man squad faded out into nothingness.
The tactical squads, having left their rhinos to aid their Devastator brothers, hefted their bolters, determined to put more of a dent in the deadly warriors. In rapid fire range they unleashed a hail of bolter shells. 1 more spectre went down as 20 bolter shells ripped into them. But it wasn’t enough to dispel the ghostly warriors.

The razorbacks and rhinos all fired, the razorback shooting into the terminator squad, its heavy shells managing to bring an Ultramarine veteran crashing to his knees, while the storm bolters on the rhinos managed to kill another of the Legion warriors.
But it would not be enough. Pradus’ squad fired their weapons at the Terminators, hoping to bring more down, but the terminators stood fast.

Across the battlefield, things were going better for the Knight Templar. Pouring out of their vehicles, Valeric and Heinric took their squads against the exposed dark angels squad, while Antonidus (along with the Emperor’s Knight Mardus) and the remaining marines deployed on the other side, ready to take on the rest of the dark angel forces.
Valeric and Heinric approached the wrecked Dark Angels rhino...at the Marshal’s command the squad’s flamer spat forth a torrent of superheated promethium, bathing the enemy squad in fire. Robes charred, and armour blistered, but no Dark Angel succumbed. Growling, Valeric looked to the melta gunner in the squad. Rudolfus hefted his melta gun and sighted down it, sending a melta shot straight into one of the closest Dark Angels. The warrior fell to the ground with a glowing hole through his body. At this signal the rest of the squad unleashed their bolt pistols, inflicting a further 3 wounds.
Heinric’s squad fired into the squad, but managed nothing due to the wreckage providing the dark angels cover from his angle of attack.
The Snipers on top of the building fired again into the bike squad, managing to kill one of the bikers.
The remaining predator sighted its autocannon at the other bike. 2 shots fired. One crashed into the bike’s chassis, the other lifted the Ultramarine off his feet, his top half coming away from his bottom in a shower of gore.
Valeric raised his sword, calling for Auric to come to his side. The fighting company champion drew his own blade, activating the power cells to make it glow and crackle.
Together they charged into the dark angels squad, hacking left and right, with the rest of the protector squad behind them.
6 dismembered bodies were left as the protector squad strode towards the other Dark angels rhino.

The Dark Angels wasted no time in regrouping.
Azrael had decided to come out at last, as victory was slipping from his grasp.
Leaving the protection of his land raider, his command squad targeted the nearest Knights Templar squad, that of Sergeant Beridel.
The Crusader meanwhile moved towards the scouts’ building, its hurricane bolters loading with ammo.
The first of the Dark Angels reinforcements entered the fray. A 7 man assault squad jumping in on packs, to the south of the building, hoping to attack the Knights Templar from their flanks.
Unfortunately for them the fire of their descent attracted the attention of the Emperor’s Knight Champion Mardus, and his squad.
The Ultramarines meanwhile were on the move. The Terminators bypassed the Iron Father’s squad, deciding instead to concentrate their power on the tactical squads that threatened them. The legion of theDamned moved to take on the plasma cannon gunners, who since their first awesome volley had suffered mishap after mishap with their great weapons.

The assault squad was already in range so didn’t move....
And then the slaughter started for the Iron Hands.
The Legion of the Damned unleashed its bolters against the plasma gunners, killing them all.
The terminators fired their storm bolters into the first tactical squad, taking out an impressive 4 marines and forcing a morale test, which they lost and retreated off the field.

The assault squad fired their bolt pistols into the missile launcher squad, killing one, but their goal was assault...

The whirlwind fired on the other side of the field, targeting the mass of Knight Templars arrayed against Azrael. It fired but scattered, only clipping 5 marines. Of these 3 were unfortunate and succumbed to the blast, lifted off their feet with their armour rent and torn.

The crusader fired against the snipers on the roof of the building, its hurricane bolters and assault cannons making the scouts dive for cover. Only three scouts were caught in the storm of bolter fire, their scout armour no match for the land raider’s awesome weaponry.

Azrael’s squad fired its flamer into Beridel’s Crusader squad, roasting no less than 4 battle brothers.
The Dark Angel’s Dreadnought fired its lascannon against the Predator but failed to penetrate or even glance.

In combat the Dark Angels command squad ripped into Beridel’s squad. The lightning claws and Sword of Secrets were unstoppable, and brought down the KnightsTemplar around Beridel. In a savage final strike Beridel brought his power sword to bear against the famed Dark Angels Grand Master, seeking vengeance for his brothers. Before his swing had even got half way the Sword of Secrets lashed out, decapitating the veteran sergeant.

The Ultramarines were now into the assault against the Iron Hands, determined to destroy them and claim the prize the Iron Hands protected.
The Terminators crashed into the tactical squad, the sheer weight of their armour a danger to the power armoured warriors. Chainswords and combat blades were useless against the tactical dreadnought armour, and in a sickening display of cold efficiency the Terminators’ power fists crushed and dismembered the last Iron Hands tactical squad.
The assault marines flew into the missile devastator squad and cruelly set about showing why assault would always beat defence. Leaving the bodies of the 3rd Devastator squad behind them they consolidated with their eyes set on the 2nd.

Harkus’ marines strode into combat with Pradus, the veteran sergeant’s power fist crackling. Though the IronFather was quicker, and slew 2 of the 5 man squad first, the resulting combat was over quickly, with only the Apothecary and Pradus surviving, with Harkus set to match his Power Fist against the Iron Hand’s power sword.

The Iron Hands were nearly utterly defeated, and though the Knights Templar were poised to bring the Dark Angels to heel for forcing three other chapters to fight for their own nefarious reasons, a broad band comms communication halted all the fighting.

“This is Inquisitor Eziel Thoth. In the name of the holy Inquisition of the Emperor and the Emperor of Mankind I order all forces to cease and desist all hostilities. All attempts to thwart the Ordo Malleus team en route to extract the ‘device’ will be met with unrelenting and sanctioned force.”

Over the pall of battlesmoke pouring from the wrecks in the valley could be seen a Storm Raven flying fast towards the iron Hands encampment. No Iron Hand,Ultramarine, Dark Angel or Kinghts Templar warrior would ever tell what he saw as all were taken for mind wiping after the incident, but Thoth can tell the truth.

The device in question was an ancient tome that contained litanies and catechisms from the very earliest days of the Great Crusade. It also contained passages on technologies now lost to the Imperium. The Dark Angels were correct that it had been a gift from Lion El’Jonnson to the Ultramarines, but the Ultramarines had never received the gift The transport it was on was lost in a freak warp storm, and when the transport emerged and crash landed on the planet of Formosa V the tome now held the nascent form a daemon within its pages, hoping that the Ultramarines would come to claim it so it could corrupt the noble chapter..
The Ordo Malleus Grey Knights were sent to secure the area after the Iron Hands distress call was received. The Tome was successfully retrieved by Justicar Lorusel and is currently being studied in the Sanctum Sanctorum

End of report.