Assault on Mardrion

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Battle Details

Type: Battle
Date: 082.007.M31
Sub-Sector:Beneheventian Sub-Sector
System: Prosperine System
Planet: Mardrion
Victor: Traitor
Draw: n
Influence: 5

Forces:

Loyalists Involved In The Conflict Army:L-XIX-5906

Traitors Involved In The Conflict Army:L-XII-1884

Dramatis Personae

The World Eaters
Tiberius Thanatos, Centurion
“Bad Luck” Kull, Secutor Sergeant
Lennar “Bloodsucker”, Secutor Sergeant

The Raven Guard
Rahalderic Vosan, Praetor
Kyrax Marn, Line Captain
Ferax Vontees, Terminator Veteran Sergeant

Battle Summary

Prologue
After the ninety eight days of Isstvan V, the World Eaters were sent in the Segmentum Ultima along with the Word Bearers to begin the bloody campaign which would come to be known as The Shadow Crusade, meant to shed enough blood and despair to tear the veils of reality and unleash a violent warpstorm capable of isolating the realm of Ultramar from the rest of the Imperium. In the opening stages of the conflict, the 16th Company of the 12th Legion was sent right outside the borders of the Five Hundred Worlds, in the Australis Ultima Sector, and tasked to unleash as much devastation as possible to cause a minor storm which would cut off that border of the Ultramarine Empire, denying every possible link with the Australis Ultima Sector. Their first prey was Hive World Mardrion , while a number of allied Traitor Militia ships went deeper in the Prosperine System. What the World Eaters were not aware of was the presence of a Raven Guard survivor force that landed on the planet's surface seeking for aid: their presence turned what should have been a slaughter into a perilous meatgrinder that could make the Merciless seriously bleed.

Opening Phase
At 14.48 Terran Hours, The Battlebarge Merciless launched a surprise bombardment on Alpha-51, Mardrion's main military complex, exacting an heavy toll from the numbers of the Planetary Defence Force and destroying much of their weapon facilities. At 15.21 Terran Hours, the first World Eaters Dreadclaw landed on planet. The battle for Mardrion had begun.

Assault on Mardrion
While Centurion Thanatos led one hundred of the 16th' s Legionnaires against Alpha-51 to finish off the planet's military defences, Secutor Sergeants Kull and Lennar commanded the rest of the company in the assault to Zoran, Mardrion's Capital City.

The training complex had been left in chaos by the preliminar bombardment, and isolated groups of Imperial Militia were easily smashed by the ravaging World Eaters. A warband of Raven Guard Legionnaires under command of Veteran Sergeant Ferax Vontees managed to slow the rampage with a series of hit and run attacks and provided some time for evacuation to the shattered Militia, but Thanatos ultimately forced the breach and left the Imperial Forces no other choice than disordinate withdrawal. Vontees, severely wounded in a duel with the World Eaters Centurion and the only Raven Guard who survived the assault, joined a group of Mardrionian soldiers and pushed towards Zoran to link up with his Astartes brothers in the capital.

The fight there fared little better: Secutor Sergeant Kull led a charge towards the city that left countless, lifeless husks of the periferical Hive Hab Blocks and their defenceless inhabitants, while Praetor Rahalderic Vosan heroically managed to evacuate the inner Blocks' inhabitants towards the fortified heart of the city.

At the same time, Line Captain Kyrax Marn of the Raven Guard led an attack against the rearguard of the Merciless, remained under Sergeant Lennar's leadership, and managed to shatter it thanks to the bravery of his assault. With the lines of the World Eaters broken and confused, Praetor Voran could leave the city with his Astartes and human survivors.

As the fighting raged on all of Mardrion, demanding a monstruosly high number of civilian casualities slain by the Nails-lost World Eaters and their renegade Imperial Army allies, Alpha-51 and Zoran were firmly in the traitor's hands, while the Imperial Militia, the Raven Guard and those citiziens who could be evacuated moved to Darolon Harbor with the intention of leaving the planet. Informed by Sergeant Vontees about what happened on Alpha-51, Praetor Voran heroically challenged fate and decided to remain on the seemingly doomed Mardrion, gathering an élite of Astartes and Militia volunteers to go try cutting the serpent's head. Vontees, though still wounded, had been told by his human comrades of an important tecno-relic stored in the vaults of Alpha-51: declaring that he would not let it fall in the hands of the traitors, he prepared to launch a parallel assault on the complex.

Captain Kyrax Marn was designed to command in Voran's absence and lead the survivors to Darolon Harbor, only to discover that the spaceport had been bombarded and a garrison led by Secutor Sergeant Kull had been redeployed to prevent it being used by the Emperor's warriors. Taking advantage of the smokes and debris of the ruined Harbor, the Raven Guard launched a surprise assault on the World Eaters. Though suffering near-total losses, Marn crushed any traitor resistance, leaving a trail of destruction behind him as he and a fistful of Raven Guards and Mardrionians gained control of a small frigate.

Voran's desire was quickly satisfied by the fates of battle: emerging the from the pile of shattered walls and broken corpses that Alpha-51 had been reduced to, Tiberius Thanatos and his Merciless charged towards the task force. After killing two Tactical-Dreadnought armoured Honor Guards in close combat, the World Eaters commander called for the Raven Guard Praetor. Though a formidable warrior he proved no match for Thanatos, and his head was lifted as a final sign of victory as an horde of blood soaked berserkers roared his pride and slaughtered the remaining sons of Corax.

Vontees too found his death under the Kheres pattern cannons of Contemptor Dreadnought Daegron, as a task force commanded by Sergeant Lennar carved his bloody way to the relic, an ancient phase-walker device that would end up stored as a trophy in the armory of the Merciless.

Epilogue
Finding nothing but dead channels and receiving no comunication by Voran or Vontees, Marn had no other choice than departing the planet as a new tide of World Eaters was about to invade Darolon Harbor. Broken and defenceless, the planet's populace was utterly butchered, and only those wealthy or lucky enough to escape with the Raven Guard or seal themselves behind the door of one of the subterranean hidden bunkers saw their lives spared. His cities and complexes burning, empty and broken, Mardrion suffered a blow from which it would never fully recover.

Skirmish Reports

Skirmishes Added

Skirmish Designation	Victor	Defeated	Faction Victor
Assault on Mardrion~1422659278	L-XII-1884	L-XIX-5906	Traitor
Assault on Mardrion~1422659444	L-XII-1884	L-XIX-5906	Traitor
Assault on Mardrion~1422659535	L-XIX-5906	L-XII-1884	Draw
Assault on Mardrion~1422659663	L-XIX-5906	L-XII-1884	Loyalist
Assault on Mardrion~1422659767	L-XII-1884	L-XIX-5906	Traitor
Assault on Mardrion~1422659855	L-XII-1884	L-XIX-5906	Traitor

(Press the CREATE button to lodge a single Skirmish report, do not modify the name)

Battle Pictures

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