CAMPAIGN: Phoenix campaign background

I've been working out the motivations behind our little campaign and trying to tie it into the greater narrative of the Skolarii Sector. Here's the basic premise for the campaign.

971.M41. Tchoi Guerez, former captain of the Exigators 1st company, has sworn a pact with The Adorator, the leader of Chaos forces in the Kjalter sector. Guerez will return to the Skolarii Sector and try to turn the rest of his chapter to Chaos. Together with his re-united followers, the Exigators will act as the vanguard for a major Chaos incursion.

The Adorator has given Guerez three main objectives.

1. Provide intelligence for other Chaos forces.
2. Destroy isolated targets.
3. Raid Imperial shipping for supplies.

The first part of Guerez's plan worked well. He secured the loyalty of both Daemon Prince Bellicus (formerly second company captain Badalementi Astrid) and Jaxx Sebastian (formerly third company captain) and their warbands. Guerez already had the support of Forax Tork and his Nurgle cult, Hotep the Sorceror and Axhote the Berzerker.

The Chaos alliance set up a secret base of operations upon Kutch, and insignificant agri-world in the Salazar systems. Numerous piratical raids allowed them to stockpile weapons and munitions in preparation for the coming conflict.

Resistance to Guerez's plans came from an unexpected quarter.

*

Starstriders of Alaitoc craftworld tirelessly traverse the south eastern fringe of the Imperium, seeking out those who would oppose the aims of the Eldar. Upon their travels in the Skolarii Sector Eldar Rangers, led by Saduras Clearsight, reported Chaos forces massing upon Kutch. The hot-headed Saduras petitioned his craftworld to attack. Autarch Icareane noted the report but did not act upon it. The Chaos army may have been dangerous for the Mon-Keigh who worshipped the Carrion God but they were not yet a threat to Alaitoc. Saduras maintained a silent vigil over the Chaos marines.

Things began to change when Farseer Lauthelias began to feel portents of doom. His divinations revealed that a great black wave would engulf the entire Skolarii Sector, and that that wave emanated from the Salazar systems. Although the Farseer cared little for the millions of Mon-Keigh lives that would be lost, he cared deeply for the single Exodite world of Habour in the Kandaeon Worlds which would be swept away.

Lauthelias appealed to Icareane to send out an expedition. This time Icareane agreed. If the Eldar could defeat the meagre Chaos forces on Kutch now, they might just stop the Chaos incursion before it really started.

My next post will explain the rules for our campaign.

Meanwhile, here's another little bit of history involving the Exigators. This was a battle between my Chaos Space Marines and Steve's Feral Orks.

BATTLE REPORT: Chaos Space Marines vs Necrons

We had played a couple of games with Gary's Necrons and he was really enjoying the change. He had won one game and drawn another and we both wondered how they would fare against a more competitive Chaos list - I had been experimenting with alternative lists (dropping staple units such as the speed Prince, Obliterators and heavy bolter havocs). This time I picked a list to specifically take out the 'bots.

Points value: 950
Army 1: Chaos Space Marines
Army 2: Necrons
Mission: Recon
Level: Gamma
First turn: Necrons

Chaos Space Marines

• Lieutenant on Bike, Lightning Claw, Daemonic armour
• Lord, Daemonic stature, Daemonic speed, Daemonic resilience, Daemonic armour
  
• 8 Havocs, 2 autocannon, missile launcher
  
• 8 Marines, plasma gun, lascannon
  
• 8 Marines, infiltrate, flamer, plasma pistol, Aspiring champion with powerfist
  
• 6 Furies
  
• 6 Daemonettes

Necrons

• 10 Warriors
• 10 Warriors
• 4 Destroyers
• Heavy Destroyer
• Heavy Destroyer
• Necron Lord with Resurrection Orb and Nightmare veil
• 6 Scarab bases

Terrain and Deployment
This was a heavily terrained board. There were two area three line of sight blockers in the middle of the table - one ruined building on my left and a wood on my right. I also had some level two ruins in my central deployment zone. I refused the right flank, only putting the biker lieutenant out there. I had the las/plas squad and speed prince behind the large ruin and the havoc squad in the smaller ruins. I infiltrated the close combat squad behind the wood.

The destroyers all cowered behind the wood. One warrior squad began on each flank.

The game
The Necrons took first turn. The Lord teleported the warrior squad on my left, way over the board to my extreme right. Their shooting stripped a wound off my biker lieutenant. He charged in and clawed four of them. One stood back up then the Lord teleported them a few inches back. Again they shot the lieutenant and they removed his last wound.

Meanwhile, the destroyers killed three havocs. I pushed the infiltrators through the wood and their meltaguns dropped a heavy destroyer. My Havocs tried to kill the other but failed their target priority test and hit the scarabs instead. That meant the heavy destroyer came back online.

All the time I was pushing the speed prince and las/plas squad through the large ruin. All the destroyers turbo boosted into the far right corner, obviously worried about my advance and the prospect of the daemons. The scarabs formed up in front of the flyers as a screen.

I got my daemonettes. They summoned from the infiltrators and they had just enough movement to hit the scarabs. I continued to push up on the now deserted left flank.

The daemonettes took the scarabs down to a single base. The Necron lord tried to teleport in next to the second warrior squad to rescue them from the advancing daemons but he scattered off the board. The destroyers were now hemmed into the corner.

The daemonettes finished off the scarabs and just contacted the warriors. The Furies were summoned and also hit the warriors. Unsurprisingly the warriors were slaughtered and the two survivors ran. It meant both units of daemons were sitting targets for the destroyers, though.

I passed four out of six saves on the daemonettes and only one fury went down. That sealed the fate of the destroyers. On the last turn the daemonettes assaulted the destroyers, the furies assaulted the heavy destroyers and the speed prince caught the last warriors. The Necrons phased out.

Commendations
Exigators - Daemonettes
Necrons - Lord and teleporting warriors

Turning point
The lord scattering off the table.

Learning points

• This was a much tougher Chaos list, specifically designed to beat the 'bots. Although there were fewer units they could actually project more force onto the Necrons through their speed, weapon range, special deployment and summoning. I also boosted the squads up to eight models so that they could withstand a round of shooting without losing key models.
• The teleporting warrior squad is a powerful but risky unit. It paid off when they killed the lieutenant but backfired when the lord scattered off the table.
  

BATTLE REPORT: Chaos Space MArines vs Necrons

Again I turned up with a 1500 point army and again I played a much smaller game against Necrons. Gary had enjoyed his run out with the over-excited toasters so much he went out and bought some Heavy Destroyers to add to his army. I simply added a Predator to my previous list.

Points value: 950
Army 1: Chaos Space Marines
Army 2: Necrons
Mission: Seek and Destroy
Level: Alpha
First turn: Chaos

Chaos Space Marines

• Lieutenant on Bike, Lightning Claw
• 5 Marines, meltagun, heavy bolter
  
• 5 Marines, plasma gun, heavy bolter
• 5 Marines, plasma gun, lascannon
  
• 5 Marines, flamer, plasma pistol, Aspiring champion with powerfist
  
• 5 Marines, plasma gun, missile launcher
• 6 Daemonettes
• Dreadnought, twin lascannon
• Predator, twin Lascannon and Heavy Bolter sponsons
  

Necrons

• 10 Warriors
• 10 Warriors
• 4 Destroyers
• Heavy Destroyer
• Heavy Destroyer
• Necron Lord with Resurrection Orb and Nightmare veil
• 6 Scarab bases

Deployment and Terrain
The photograph below shows the terrain and deployment after the end of the first turn.


The Game
Gary won the choice of first turn but gave it to me. I moved up around the right of the pivotal wood. Long range lascannon fire dropped two Warriors.

The Necrons swept around the left of the wood. My Daemonettes summoned into the wood but failed to contact the Destroyers. The Scarabs charged in and killed them all. This in turn left them vulnerable to a charge from my close assault squad and the aspiring champion began to swat them with his powerfist.

Meanwhile, the Lord teleported and scattered to my left. I killed four Necrons and the survivors broke. They didn't run far, though, and decent We'll be Back rolls meant the squad rallied. I lost an entire squad to Destroyer fire.

The Destroyer took out the Dreadnought, too, with two sixes on the glancing chart. My Lieutenant whizzed out around the back of the woods to threaten the trailing, and so far untouched, Warrior squad. He wasn't required, though, as my close assault squad finished off the scarabs and slaughtered the Warriors in a single shattering charge.

The Necron Lord teleported right into my lines and killed several marines. They took light casualties before zipping off and reappearing behind the Predator. The vehicle exploded in another glancing 6. A las/plas squad stepped up to deliver the hurt, but they failed to do any real damage and the Lord punished them for their failure.

I now went after the Heavy Destroyers, trying to reduce the Necron scoring units. One fell to a lascannon shot then my melta gun squad flubbed its rolls to kill the other. The Lieutenant dropped him instead with some lucky combi-bolter shots.

The Lord and his Warriors shot up another of my units, while the Destroyers killed my Lieutenant. We both had a single scoring unit left at the end of the game.

Commendations
Necrons - teleporting Lord
Chaos - close assault marines

Turning point
The Necron WBB and rally rolls to save the Lord's teleporting unit.

Learning points

• Gary played this game very sportingly which allowed me to draw the game. We both enjoyed the wild swings of fortune during the battle.
• The Necrons have the edge in mobility and firepower. The CSM have an assault advantage but no real way to engage in the combat. Even the Lieutenant, who had an 18" assault move, didn't get into a single scrap.
  

BACKGROUND: Exigators 10th company, part two

Inquisitor de Fire had killed all but thirteen members of the 10th company but his primary target, captain Finn Keys, was still alive. The inquisitor had tracked him down to Devil's Den, a rocky, heavily forested area to the south east of Orbis hill. It covered an area of over 200 square kilometres and comprised the most challenging terrain on the entire second continent. Keys knew the place intimately and had a dozen of his best scouts with him. He also had advance warning of the inquisitor's plans. M'Kellan's message had got through.

Inquisitor de Fire left his base at Stolidus wood for Devil's Den with almost two hundred Stormtroopers and came back two weeks later with sixty six wounded and ninety one full body bags. Only one of those held the remains of an Exigator. The inquisitor came up with a new plan. He told the 16 captured scouts that they were free of the taint that afflicted many of the Exigators and that if they helped to hunt down Keys they would be able to continue their training and serve as a Marine in another chapter.

The scouts began a deadly game of cat and mouse with their former battle brothers. For four weeks the scouts stalked each other through the hostile terrain. Occasionally, Devil's Den was filled with the sound of gunfire, the triggering of traps and ambushes and the shouts and cries of desperate close combat. All this activity was separated by long periods of silence which sent the impatient de Fire into fits of apoplexy.

Keys lost seven of his loyal scouts before he killed the last of his former pupils. He strung the body up on a rock face as a defiant message for his inquisitorial nemesis. But the inquisitor had one last option. He called in an Eversor assassin.

Finn Keys was a skilled, cunning hunter who could survive for months at a time in enemy territory without support, but even he could not withstand the naked fury of an Eversor assassin. Two of his men were caught and brutally butchered. In a desperate gambit he lured the assassin into an ambush with himself as the lure. The gambit failed.

The Eversor discovered one of the scouts and shot him with his needle pistol before he could bring his heavy bolter to bear. Keys retaliated under covering fire from his last pupil. The assassin and the captain raced toward each other. The sniper's shot was true and hit the Eversor in the chest, cracking a rib and collapsing a lung. The assassin didn't break stride. He didn't even flinch.

He tore past Keys and raked his neuro-gauntlet across the marine's torso. The Eversor ignored the mortally wounded captain and bounded off after the sniper scout. He broke off after the scout disappeared in heavy brush and returned to Keys. Utterly dispassionately, he lopped off the captain's head. This was presented to de Fire as a trophy.

Despite that one missing scout de Fire declared his mission a success and left Insolitus, never to return. The Exigators now have no formal 10th company but they do occasionally return to Insolitus to take the best men from it's warrior lodges and induct them into the chapter.

BACKGROUND: Exigators 10th company

This is a long piece, so I have split it over two posts. Part two will follow tomorrow.

Finn Keys was the captain of the 10th company and was responsible for the recruitment and training of future Exigators. Although the Exigators were a fleet-based chapter, with their companies split up and assigned to different roaming missions, their principal recruiting centre was on Insolitus in the Halasus Marches. There they encouraged warrior lodges amongst the population and chose the best as recruits for the chapter.

When the Imperium learned of the chapter's gene debasement they developed a two pronged solution. The main thrust would be against the Exigator's fleet at Knardlone, with a smaller but no less vital attack against the scout company, and Finn Keys, at the fortress of Orbis hill on Insolitus.

Inquisitor de Fire was tasked with the mission. The initial bombardment began as planned; lance strikes and melta torpedoes reduced the chapter fortress to rubble. His ground assault, consisting of almost two hundred Stormtroopers flying in on Valkyrie airborne assault carriers supported by Vulture gunships, was delayed for a crucial ninety minutes by unseasonal electrical storms which grounded the flyers north of Stolidus wood.

Astropath M'Kellan survived the devastation of the fortress and received a warning about the destruction of the fleet from the astropath aboard the Swift Justice. He relayed this to the rest of the survivors, some forty scouts and seventy surfs and servitors. They had just enough time to crowd aboard three Thunderhawk gunships, safely housed in bomb-proof bunkers deep below ground. As they roared away from their ruined fortress the Vultures came screaming in. After a short but intense dogfight two Thunderhawks were destroyed in spectacular explosions and the third was forced to splash down in the Rhodahnus river. It sunk to the river bed and 27 bedraggled survivors, including astropath M'kellan and 16 scouts were eventually captured by de Fire.

Following the dogfight, Valkyries deposited the Stormtroopers directly onto the remains of the fortress. They scoured the rubble for the body of Keys but their prime target could not be found. Inquisitor de Fire began aggressive questionning of his captives. Astropath M'Kellan broke under interrogation and revealed that the 10th company captain was out on manoeuvres in the Devil's Den with twelve of his most promising aspirants. M'Kellan tried to send a psychic warning to Keys but he died with the strain, before he could be sure that the message had reached it's target.

BATTLE REPORT: Chaos Space Marines vs Necrons

After a couple of 'of the cuff' games against Gary's Dark Eldar I decided to sit down and write a decent army list to take on the pointy-ears. Unfortunately, on the day I didn't have enough time to play a 1500 point game so Gary suggested we play a smaller game using his Necrons. He used everything he had and the army totalled 820 points. I used loads of my units plucked out of my original lists as I didn't want to be too 'cheesy' and pick units especially good against the 'bots.

Points value: 820
Army 1: Chaos Space Marines
Army 2: Necrons
Mission: Recon
Level: Gamma
First turn: Chaos

Chaos Space Marines

• Lieutenant on Bike, Lightning Claw
• 5 Marines, meltagun, heavy bolter
  
• 5 Marines, plasma gun, heavy bolter
• 5 Marines, plasma gun, lascannon
  
• 6 Marines, flamer, plasma pistol, Aspiring champion with powerfist
  
• 5 Marines, plasma gun, missile launcher
• 6 Daemonettes
  
• Dreadnought, twin lascannon
  

Necrons

• 10 Warriors
• 10 Warriors
• 2 Destroyers
• 2 Destroyers
• Necron Lord with Resurrection Orb and Nightmare veil
• 6 Scarab bases

Terrain and Deployment
We played on a 6x4 foot table. Gary had laid out the terrain in advance. We had two low hills in the centre, rocky columns and a ruined shrine on the right, and some rubble and a wood on the left. Both Warrior units began in and behind the wood with the Lord amongst them. The Scarabs started in the middle and both Destroyer units were on my wide right.

I deployed my Chaos army predominantly in the centre and left, refusing the right flank.

The Game
I won first turn. My Dreadnought rolled fire frenzy. I had a nervous moment until I realised I could just see two Warriors deep in the wood, otherwise I would have been targeting my own troops! My shooting came to nothing anyway but I managed to move four squads forward.

Both Destroyers units stayed tight on my right flank and shot at the Dread but failed to hurt it. One Warrior squad walked up through the wood but the other used the Veil to deep strike on the right flank. They deviated close to my lines. They slaughtered a las/plas squad with rapid firing.

My Daemonettes were summoned from the other las/plas squad in prime assault range of the Lord and Warriors. They charged, as did the Dreadnought. I killed eight models and the two survivors were run down by the daemons. A twenty minute discussion then ensued regarding the Resurrection Orb and whether it allowed units to re-animate outside of 6" of a similar model. In the end we said the squad was dead. The Dreadnought moved into the Lord.

I pushed the models forward on the left again and scattered fire took out a couple of Warriors in the wood. I zoomed the biker lieutenant from the left to right to help out against the Scarabs and Destroyers.

The Scarabs charged the Daemonettes, killing three for the loss of a base. The las/plas squad charged in. The biker lord tried to crash the party but fell short. The Lord teleported out of combat with the Dread over to the left flank. The Destroyers felled the Dreadnought. Awesome Necron shooting and some appalling armour saves meant I lost my assault squad with the aspiring champion, too.

Moving from the ridiculous to the sublime I passed six armour saves on my lord. That allowed him to contact the Scarabs who were overwhelmed and destroyed, though they did take the Daemonettes out with them.

On the left the Lord and Warriors won a war of attrition with my last squad and I was short of phasing the 'bots out by two models. I couldn't catch the Destroyers or shoot them due to dusk falling, so I threw a las/plas squad into the Necron deployment zone. Both Destroyer units made it into the Chaos deployment zone.

Result: Loss

Commendations

• Chaos - Daemonettes
  
• Necrons - Destroyers
  

Turning point
Failing the armour saves on the squad with the powerfist. If I had achieved combat the Necrons would almost certainly have phased out.

Learning points

• This Necron army is quick. On a large board with a small armies I just couldn't get anywhere near the Destroyers. It's another example of why I think 40k is now a game of mobile firepower.
• Have the FAQ for your codex to hand at all times. We wasted 20 minutes while we argued about the Veil during the game. Afterwards we checked the FAQ on the website and it clarified the rules (we had played it right). If we'd had the rules at the time then we could have moved on more quickly.
• Gary made some noises about playing a campaign. It's something I'm really interested in doing to get a bit more depth from out games. The only problem is the extra time and effort it takes to run one. Still, I'll start mulling things over...

BATTLE REPORT: Chaos Space Marines vs Dark Eldar

Following my drubbing in the last game I decided to put together a completely different army; one that might actually work! Out went the small number of tough models and in came a raft of smaller, cheaper models. I flooded the board with 54 Marines and some supporting Daemons, as well as the Predator. I was getting fairly close to maxing out the force organisation chart which is usually tricky with Marines! In order to do that I had to drop each unit down to six models, even the Thousand Sons. It was a shame I didn't have any Slaaneshi units in the army. My opponent stuck with the same Dark Eldar list as it had done very well for him first time around.

We initially rolled up another Seek and Destroy mission but decided to re-roll rather than play the same mission twice. The second roll came up Take and Hold at Alpha level. Some players seem to think that Alpha missions are for beginners or somehow boring, but I strongly disagree. Including Alpha missions along with Gamma and Omega missions ensures that one-trick pony armies that rely entirely on special rules don't get their own way all the time. Anything that encourages players to include a wide range of units and tactics has to be a good thing. I wish that Alpha missions would be included in the Grand Tournaments. I feel sure that we would start to see a wider variety of army lists.

Anyway, enough of the rant and on to the game.

Army 1: Chaos Space Marines
Army 2: Dark Eldar
Mission: Take and Hold
Level: Alpha
First turn: Dark Eldar

Chaos Space Marines

• Lieutenant on Bike, Lightning Claw
• 6 Thousand Sons
• 6 Raptors, two flamers
• 6 Furies
  
• 6 Marines, meltagun, heavy bolter
  
• 6 Marines, plasma gun, heavy bolter
• 6 Marines, plasma gun, heavy bolter
• 6 Marines, plasma gun, autocannon
  
• 6 Marines, flamer, autocannon
  
• 6 Marines, meltagun, missile launcher
• 5 Possessed with daemonic talons
  
• Predator, twin lascannon, 2 Heavy Bolters

Dark Eldar

• 10 Warriors, 2 Dark Lances
• 10 Warriors, 2 Dark Lances
• 8 Wyches, Raider
• 8 Wyches, Raider
• 8 Wyches, Raider
• Ravager, Night Shield
• Ravager, Night Shield
• Talos
• Warp Beasts
• Archon
• Drachite

Terrain and Deployment
Gary hadn't changed the set-up from our last battle. The table had two distinct types of terrain. On my right flank I had some bunkers and ruined buildings surrounded by low walls and barricades. We classified this as area three terrain to give Gary a sporting chance. In the middle and on my left there were two large woods which we called area level three, and lots and lots of scattered rock columns which were impassable.

Due to the mission I began with the majority of my units in a central position, behind the wood which had to be taken. I had the Raptors out wide left and the Thousand Sons anchoring my right. The Dark Eldar favoured my left flank, taking as much cover as they could from the woods and rocky columns. We both knew that if Chaos won first turn it would be an extremely difficult game for the Dark Eldar as I would be able to shoot down the Raiders while they were stationary.

The Game
Gary won first turn, much to his relief. He brought most of his force up behind the central wood with a Wych squad zooming up each flank. His shooting was poor - my Predator shrugged off several Dark Lance shots only becoming immobilised, while just 3 marines died.

I pushed the possessed toward the middle wood and the Raptors behind the wood on my left. The Thousand Sons came up to bring the wyches near the objective into sight. My shooting was also sub-par - I destroyed a Ravager and killed a few wyches.

The Dark Eldar launched their assault. The wyches on my right hit the Thousand Sons but the automatons held. The depleted wyches in the middle got to the possessed and wiped out the entire squad. The warp beasts bounded past them to attack a marine unit. In an appalling show of dice the squad caused no wounds and took three in return. The survivors broke and fled. The third wych squad got tangled up in the woods and failed to contact the Raptors.

The Raptors flamed the wyches out of existence. Combined small arms fire obliterated the wyches in the centre and the last wych squad was overwhelmed in combat when I pitched two more units of marines into the fight. I had beaten off the first wave.

Now the second wave arrived. The combat on the right had left my units slightly exposed which meant the Archon could reach them. The Drachite sprinted through the woods and tied up a squad in the centre.

I summoned my Furies but they deviated 10" away from the action. That meant I had to throw the biker lord into the Drachite, but she slaughtered him. The Archon finished off the first squad of marines then charged the second. The Drachite fluffed her attacks meaning she was stuck in combat when the Furies arrived. They ripped her to pieces. The two marine survivors moved out to intercept the Archon and slow her down. Together with the Furies they prevented her from getting anywhere near the objective.

My predator finally succumbed to a dark lance shot. The Thousand Sons had pushed on up the right flank and were trading fire with a warrior squad. The warriors were taken down below half strength but so were the Thousand Sons.

On the left, my Raptors had jumped over the wood and incinerated the other warrior squad. Three Raptors died to ravager fire and the survivors jumped back behind the wood.

We took stock.

Gary had that ravager and the talos near the objective. I had one marine squad and the Raptors to contest the objective but both were down to half strength. Any casualties and they wouldn't be scoring.

I had to zoom the Raptors out into the open to get near the objective. The ravager killed one and took them to non-scoring status. I had manged to work a squad up the left into the woods and their fire shot the ravager out of the sky. One scoring unit left on each side.

I shot everything I could at the talos, but despite getting loads of lucky sixes, Gary saved all but one of them. My last shots of the game were with my final scoring squad. If the plasma gunner took a wound off the talos and survived I would win the game. If I failed to wound the talos and the plasma gun killed its firer I would lose the game. Otherwise it would be a draw.

I hit the talos and the other shot overheated. My shot wounded the talos...and the overheat killed the marine!

Just for fun I threw the last two Raptors into combat with the talos and destroyed it.

Fantastic game.

Result: Draw

Commendations

• Chaos - Predator (soaking up four turns of dark lance fire)
  
• Dark Eldar - Archon (killed 14 marines)
  

Turning point
That last plasma gun shot. Games don't come any closer.

Learning points

• Alpha level games are surprisingly tactical. Armies lose all their special deployment rules and the mission becomes even more vital.
• Multiple small units work better against the Dark Eldar than single expensive models or units.
• The biker lieutenant is pants against Dark Eldar heroes. He just gets blatted before he has a chance to swing. If I'm going to persevere with him I need to spend a lot more points to toughen him up. Otherwise it would be better to just take a cheap leader and use him against other parts of the Dark Eldar army.
  

BACKGROUND: Exigators. Treachery at Knardlone

Chapter records deposited at Jalein in 377.M34 show the disposition of the Exigators as follows.

• HQ Chapter Master: Silas Bettanez
• HQ Chief Librarian: Jayat Queroz
• HQ Master Techmarine: Snarvat Rime
• HQ Master Apothecary: Ramone Amos
• HQ Chaplain: Vann Morr
• 1st Company Captain: Tchoi Guerez
• 2nd Company Captain: Badalementi Astrid
• 3rd Company Captain: Jaxxe Sebastian
• 4th Company Captain: Orton Jorke
• 5th Company Captain: Rea Gomez
• 6th Company Captain: Coxon Guillemot
• 7th Company Captain: Cullum West
• 8th Company Captain: Keene Silek
• 9th Company Captain: Rev Mylo
• 10th Company Captain: Finn Keys

According to the records, the chapter boasted 1015 marines in total. This chapter organisation was shattered irrevocably in what has become described by the survivors as the Treachery at Knardlone.

When the Exigators succumbed to spontaneous genetic mutation their apothecaries produced a serum which stabilised the marines long enough for them to reunite and seek more advanced medical assistance. Unbeknownst to the Exigators, they were not the only chapter to suffer from unstable geneseed. The entire founding was affected and later became known as the cursed founding. The council of Terra convened and decided upon a drastic course of action.

The Exigators were instructed to make for Knardlone, an isolated system in the Arlehk system. There, they would rendezvous with senior apothecaries from a dozen other chapters and their geneseed would be healed.

The Exigator's battle barge Mighty Hammer broke warp in the Knardlone system, together with the strike cruisers Swift Justice, Emperor's Promise and Silent Hunter. The fleet travelled in-system for two hours before the strike cruiser Indomitable arrived having experienced difficulties with its Geller Field. It hurried to rejoin the fleet.

Without warning, an Imperial fleet emerged from the dark side of the fifth planet and engaged the Exigators. The Emperor's Promise was destroyed instantly in a hail of torpedoes, while the Mighty Hammer exploded with a nova cannon shot to its plasma reactor. Chapter Master Silas Bettanez and Chief Librarian Jayat Queroz perished in the inferno.

Captain Rev Mylo of the 9th company was aboard the Swift Justice which was protected from the initial assault by the bulk of the Mighty Hammer. Together with Silent Hunter they turned 180 degrees and made for the warp exit.

The Indomitable came steaming in from the opposite direction and scattered the Navy fleet. It was an heroic sacrifice as the Indomitable was annihilated by multiple broadside salvoes. 6th company captain Coxon Guillemot is still reckoned a hero by the surviving Exigators to this day.

It seemed like the two strike cruisers would escape the ambush. But the Navy had two Grand Cruisers waiting to close the net. Swift Justice was badly damaged and left drifting, so Silent Hunter became the hunted. It survived for a further 42 minutes, leading the Grand Cruisers a merry dance before being cornered by the rest of the Navy fleet. The Silent Hunter was boarded and it's crew slaughtered.

The distraction gave Swift Justice enough time to repair it's warp drives and escape the system.

The ambush cost the Exigators 596 marine lives, their battle barge and three strike cruisers. It left the survivors bewildered and angry. Why had the Imperium abandoned them? How would they stop the mutations?

I'll explain what happened to the survivors in my next installment.

BATTLE REPORT: Chaos Space Marines vs Dark Eldar

I was struggling to build and paint models for our escalating points Warhammer games so Gary and I decided to play some 40k for a while. This would give me some breathing space to finish the last few units in my Warhammer army. When the Nemesis Crown campaign begins we'll switch back to Warhammer with full 2000 point armies.

I played my Exigators Chaos Space Marines quite competitively last year before and during the Grand Tournament, so I wanted to move away from that and use some of the 'nice' but 'not so powerful' models in my collection. Out went the Obliterators, Daemon Prince, las/plas squads and Havocs and in came the Predator, Dreadnought, Great Unclean One, Raptors and Thousand Sons.

Unfortunately for me Gary is on the hunt for his next tournament army and is trying out his most competitive builds. This week he's experimenting with Dark Eldar, but he also has Eldar, Necrons and Khorne forces to play with.

Here is how our game went.

Army 1: Chaos Space Marines
Army 2: Dark Eldar
Mission: Seek and Destroy
Level: Omega
First turn: Dark Eldar

Chaos Space Marines

• Great Unclean One
• Lieutenant on Bike, Lightning Claw
• 9 Thousand Sons
• 6 Raptors, two flamers
• 8 Furies
  
• 6 infiltrating Marines, 2 meltaguns
• 6 infiltrating Marines, 2 plasma guns, Daemonhost
• Predator, twin lascannon, 2 Heavy Bolters
• Dreadnought, twin lascannon

Dark Eldar

• 10 Warriors, 2 Dark Lances
• 10 Warriors, 2 Dark Lances
• 8 Wyches, Raider
• 8 Wyches, Raider
• 8 Wyches, Raider
• Ravager, Night Shield
• Ravager, Night Shield
• Talos
• Warp Beasts
• Archon
• Drachite

Terrain and Deployment
The table had two distinct types of terrain. On my right flank I had some bunkers and ruined buildings surrounded by low walls and barricades. We classified this as area two terrain. On my left there were two large woods which we called area level three, and lots and lots of scattered rock columns which were impassable.

I began with the two infiltrating squads in the woods nearest the middle of the table and the Thousand Sons behind the wood on the far left. The Dark Eldar had the two Warrior squads near the bunker on my right.

The game
The Dark Eldar won first turn and took it so that they would have a chance to slaughter my infiltrators before the Daemons arrived. It worked, as he got second turn charges on both squads in the central wood. The Wych squad and Archon killed them all, only for the Great Unclean One to emerge to kill them. He was unstable, though, and lost four wounds over the next couple of turns. He was also stranded in the middle of the board as the faster Eldar avoided him.

Meanwhile my Thousand Sons took the other wood and became embroiled in a fight with the other two Wych squads and the Warp Beasts. The Dreadnought steamed in and the Dark Eldar were destroyed.

On the right I was pummelled. A dark lance immobilised my Predator which was eventually destroyed on turn five. My biker Lieutenant assaulted a Warrior squad which held and then the Drachite sliced and diced him. The Raptors arrived on turn four but were blasted off the board by a Ravager. I couldn't summon the Furies because all the icons were lost.

Result: Loss

Commendations

• Chaos - Thousand Sons
• Dark Eldar - Ravager

Turning point
The Dark Eldar winning first turn but then getting a large chunk of their reserves late in the game. This gave them the best of both worlds; they had enough to kill my infiltrators and disrupt my daemons but then could deploy against the arrival of my own reserves.

Learning points

• This list was junk. Especially regarding the icons. I didn't realise that marked units couldn't summon 'Undivided' daemons. That meant the Thousand Sons and Great Unclean One couldn't summon the Furies and I had only three icons on the table. Two of those were killed before I had a chance to summon and the other, on the Raptors, didn't show up until turn four and was then killed in one turn.
• Escalation helped the Dark Eldar much more than me. Their movement is just so much better.
• In fact, the Dark Eldar had the beatdown in every department; speed, firepower and assault.

BACKGROUND: Exigators, 4th company

Orton Jorke was an ambitious and daring commander who initially vied with Tchoi Guerez for leadership of the 1st company. His bravery was never in doubt but his ambition sometimes outstripped his abilities.

Jorke was leading the 4th company against the Delaval in Hexen sub when the gene curse hit the chapter. He refused to withdraw and join the fleet, instead preferring to finish his war. Jorke returned to Insolitus to find their base razed, their recruits slaughtered and Finn Keys, Captain of the 10th company executed by servants of the Imperium.

long dormant jealousies and rivalries, Jorke made contact with elements of the 2nd company who had survived the fleet ambush and rendezvoused with Badalementi Astrid, the 2nd company captain. While Astrid stoked Jorke'sJorke was seduced by the lure of Chaos and vowed to induct the rest of his company. Those who rebelled were disposed of. Or so Jorke thought.

With his followers united the 4th company made for the Salazar Systems where they were supposed to meet Gryan, a 'turned' Marine Apothecary who claimed to be able to reverse the Exigators gene curse. En-route, several Marines mutinied. Vicious fighting broke out all over the strike cruiser. Jorke led a foolhardy attack on the Enginarium but was killed by a melta-charge booby trap. No-one is sure what happened next.

Some say that the overwhelmed loyalists disabled the ship's Geller field allowing Daemons to devour the souls of all those on board. Others say that the followers of Chaos triumphed and that, leaderless, they pledged their allegiance to the traitor Apothecary in the Salazar systems. A few maintain that the loyalists won the fight and took control of the strike cruiser. It is said that they patrol the Skolarii Sector to this day, fighting the forces of Chaos wherever they are found.