The Tyranids are coming….
Those words echoed in his head long after the briefing at Command HQ, high up in the Spire of Hive Primus. And the shrine world of Orphelia was right in its path.
Captain Gerek had arrived on Orphelia with his Elysian Regiment a month earlier, diverted while en route to Hydraphur in Segmentum Obscurus. A tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan was striking out to the galactic west, deep into Segmentum Tempestus, and had already decimated a dozen systems. This, surprisingly, was only half of the problem.
The presence of a Hive Fleet had scared up every renegade, heretic and Xenos in the Sub-Sector, driving them away from the Veiled Region and straight towards Imperial Systems. Cultist uprisings, mass suicides, and on Orphelia, an Ork invasion. As if the Guard didn’t have enough to worry about…..
The Valkyrie jarred wildly as it hit a patch of turbulence. Gerek instinctively look out of the viewport to the Sky Talon flying opposite. It was carrying his prized Taros, and the Orks would be the least of the pilot’s worries if it was damaged.
Gerek and his company were on their way to an out of the way township called Sable. Ork forces were massing to the east of the settlement, and Gereks company had been dispatched to rapidly secure the town. In fact, an entire armoured regiment from 141st Death Korps of Krieg as well as their superheavies had also been dispatched in support. Gerek nearly laughed out loud at the thought of all that overkill being labelled as ‘support’. Under normal circumstances it would have been called exactly that – overkill. The arrival of a Crusade Fleet of Black Templars had changed that.
Sable was the first major settlement to have been established on Orphelia back in the mid 36M, long before Hive Primus had begun to rise from the dust, and was the site of a major Imperial victory against a Chaos incursion not long after its founding. Forces of the PDF, Black Templars and even the local citizenry had rallied against the invaders and fought with a fanaticism that rivalled the Chaos forces themselves. The enemy was defeated in a decisive confrontation in the Plaza of the Emperor Ascendant, home of the planets most sacred relic, The Emperors Aquila, said to be touched by Him On Earth.
Once the battle was done and the cost counted, the surviving planetary government ordered the construction of a monument on the site of the great victory. The remains of the fallen were to be interred within; a testament to their courage and sacrifice. They would not rest alone. So impressed were the Black Templars with the citizens courage, the few Templars that fell were also interred with them. It was for this reason that Gerek and the Guard had been sent to this backwater settlement. The Templars had cited the importance of the monument and final resting place of their ancient brothers, and would not see it defiled by the vile Orks.
(Pict capture of the Maartyr's Square monument taken by Templar Scouts, now MIA)
‘Come and defend it yourself then’ muttered Garek. Unfortunately the Templars were busy hunting down the Warboss leading the invasion, and Gerek wasn’t about to tell humanities finest what they should or shouldn’t be doing, especially when they were throwing their weight around.
No, it was up to the Guard, again, to pull it out of the fire. Although with the Orks, Tyranids and Emperor knows what else plundering the sector, Gerek wondered if It would be enough…..
Table and Deployment
This battle will be fought on a roughly square table with the major terrain pieces set up as per the map below:
The set-up is designed to encourage fierce battle in and around Martyrs Square.
The table will be split diagonally down the middle, with 12in either side of it forming No-Mans Land.
Objective
There is only one objective: secure Martyrs Square!
Objective marker: The Martyrs Square Monument
Victory Conditions
In order to secure the objective and claim victory, the players must have at least 2 non-vehicle units within 1 inch of the base of the objective.
For the purposes of claiming objectives, scoring units must be above 50% strength and not be falling back.
If both armies meet the Victory Conditions at the end of the game, then the objective counts as Contested.
Pictures next week!
.JPG)
