The battle began almost too quickly- the infiltrating portions of my regiment did not have time to set up properly and were therefore forced to find a way to outflank the enemy, hopefully to our advantage. In the meantime they would give us useful recon data, allowing our units to traverse difficult and dangerous terrain with ease. Blind barrages were fired by both sides, limiting firing areas to a very small area.
The Ice Jesters also had the foresight to place mines around the Tear on the enemy’s side, making their journey into the Tear a very difficult and dangerous one.
As the enemy had been set up when we arrived on the scene, they struck first, though to little effect thanks to the omnipresent smoke screens. This was especially good as enemy hammerheads and a vindicator linebreaker squad were unable to make much headway against our forces.
The Tau general unveiled another strategic asset, some kind of EMP warhead that he aimed squarely in the middle of our deployment lines.
Fortunately it scattered onto my xenos allies, and even then failed to do much damage as the warhead shorted out soon after.
On our turn we suffered the same shooting limitations as our enemies but managed to turbo boost the wave serpents, a Blood Angels land raider and a squad of Ice Jester bikers through the portal and into the maiden world, where we were angered to find a demon prince and some chaos forces already present.
There was much fighting around the portal, especially from our brave terminators.
The Imperial guard platoon command squad offered cover to the Space Wolves as they tried to outflank the enemy position.
Unfortunately for us, the next turn brought much disaster to our lines. Tau battlesuits, a predator annihilator and a dragon shaped defiler came in and decimated our tank squads while genestealers ran rampant over any units that had strayed too close to the edges of the battle.
Fortunately we were able to return the favor with the Emperor’s mercy.
Guardsman Marbo also made his contribution, wiping out half a squad of Khorne berzerkers with a demo charge before retreating into the woods to stalk another target.
Despite our best efforts, as the battle raged on more and more of the enemy managed to pass through the portal.
At this point our viewcorder was damaged by falling debris, so the rest will have to be an oral report. Space wolf drop pods probably sealed victory for us, landing on top of the mountain objective and holding it with support from a squad of my finest stormtroopers. On the Eldar world our xenos allies were surprisingly competent, their seer council annihilating the enemy seer council while howling banshees contested one objective and their wave serpent transport contested a second, with the third left unclaimed. My sentinels gave enemy marines a sound thrashing in close combat, and victory seemed at hand.
Then Creed ordered me into assault. I wasn’t sure why this order was being given, especially to his commander, but I figured that the battle was already won, so urged my command squad onwards to glory. Then Creed’s demolisher made an about face and his entire army aimed their weapons at my men who were in the ruins…
Apparently the general had failed in his previous campaign and, in order to restore his dignity, needed to be the sole force controlling the objective. So he fired upon my men and slew over half of them- just enough to give him all the credit.
In the end, we held two objectives to the enemy’s one, but apparently they had settled more of their personal vendettas than we had, granting them at least an equal share of victory. The war has reached a stalemate unfortunately, but one that another several regiments should be able to handle. I recommend increasing the recruitment zone another 100 light years in order to break through this particular block and ensure an Imperial victory.
I shall include a brief after action report on various tactics and ideas on fighting battle on this scale in my next communiqué. Ave Imperator.
*end transmission*
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