Pyladi Alpha and Pyladi Beta
I really need a Reaver to tie all these together.
So Alpha has the usual Plasma blast gun and twin vulcan cannon.
And Beta is running inferno cannon and twin volcano cannon.
And Belligera Rex, formerly a War Griffon Titan, also running an inferno cannon and a volcano cannon.
Hello, I need to make some space and these form a nice little, potentially useful package for someone. Even if you're not an RPGer yourself, perhaps you know someone who is ? I don't think that the intention to play GURPS is even important, your friendly neighbourhood RPG player might be looking for ideas from sources to drop into their game.
Anyway, I tried the few people I know and no-one wanted them. I'm an avid fan of the printed word and hate to think of this little treasure trove not finding a use anywhere. Even if it's just making some gamers bookshelf look a bit more diverse. So these are free to a good home.
I'm even so keen that these find home where they are appreciated, rather than going in the recycling to become toilet roll that I could be persuaded to go halves on the postage.
It's not going to get anywhere for Christmas, but hey, free stuff.
The Blood Pact arrived on Devos IV in some strength. They were nearly prevented from landing by the vigilance of the Imperial Navy and the Black Templars. But in the event perhaps two BCT sized formations were landed.
The Blood Pact were well aware that theirs was a suicide mission and that they were all condemned men. However, in an unwelcome parallel to the DKK, their fatalistic outlook would make no difference to their performance.
Their tactics were tried and tested; with the city environment precluding large scale armoured warfare, facing over ten Divisions of the Imperial Guard, they went for 'holding on to the enemies belt buckle' when engaged; staying so close that the Imperial Guard's advantage in artillery and close air support.
Their usual modus operandi was to heavily fortify a line in the ruins, using the shells of buildings, rubble and the other parts of the built environment to create positions from which they could fight the Imperial Guard, creating interlocking fields of fire, booby trapping dead ground and using their preparation time wisely. Pressed bodies of other groups in the city, former PDF and Militia could be used as bait or to secure a flank or make a counter attack, but were usually used to dig trenches and otherwise prepare their fighting positions.
They would defend a fighting line on one day, and pull 90% of their strength back overnight to an alternative position tens of meters behind the previous day's. The Imperial Guard would hammer the now lightly defended position, they couldn't not do that. The defences would be subject to mortaring, including coloured smoke to mark the target area for the airstrikes which would be rolling in, bombing runs by CS Marauders and strafing runs by Vultures and Avengers. The following infantry assault would be protected by a rolling barrage by the on call artillery.
The Imperial Guard would take Xyphonica, that was a given. But it would a take a long time and they would pay a heavy price.
As 72nd Army Group moved out of Fort Nuttar and pushed westwards to their start line for Operation Dragonfire, so the Imperial Navy began off loading 3422nd Army Group at the landing fields established to the west of Fort Nuttar.
The KCC were landed first, to establish the 3422 AG Headquarters and framework for rest of the Army, the rest of the army was landed and the whole was inducted in to the war and reorg'd for their advance to their TAOR on the eastern edge of Xyphonica. They would have to advance, at the furthest extent, nearly 1000 kloms around the northern edge of the city to being their phase of the investment.
Time was taken to get things right and make sure that all the preparations were completed thoroughly before the long march began. The lead elements of 569 Div, almost all Hrossy units, under Gen Nevets, were underway as the lead elements of 72 AG were probing the edge of the city after bludgeoning their way through the Battle of Chobi.
569 Div would move into position covering what the Aeronautica Imperialis would refer to as the one o'clock to two o'clock positions around the city. They would then be responsible for anchoring 3422 AG in the north as the subsequent formations would fall into place as the army surrounded the city down to the eastern bank of the Khoda River as it flows out of the southern edge of the city.
The Sentinels from the 6th and 7th Hjaltland Light Infantry would provide a recce screen moving slightly ahead of and in parellel of the lead elements of the Division, including an armoured spearhead from the 3rd Hellier Tank Bn with various detachments of the Hrossy Yeomanry acting as a form of rolling QRF as the Division moved around the northern edge of the city and into position.
Sergeant second class Nedrub of 3HTB was the commander of a Leman Russ Conqueror:
"We travelled on the newly laid railroad as far as it ran toward the Khoda River crossing north of the city, with 72AG between us and the city. As we left the rail head we had another day to where the rail bridge was being constructed. There was a hardcore road for the construction traffic but we were ordered not to use it as the tanks would chew it up, so we tracked on a wide spread through the grass. The whole area was full of squidgy cavalry; all shapes and sizes, Death Riders, Rough Riders, Mounted Grenadiers, loads of them, constantly patrolling both sides of the river looking for Devosites fleeing the city.
We crossed the river on Departmento ferries. I was surprised to find the Engineers and Labour Corps there before we were, but there you go, wars are strange things sometimes. Once over the river we knew that there were no longer friendlies between us and the renegades. We pressed on passing a gibbet where the cavalry had caught some runners.
We would travel for four days near the rear of the Division, as a packet, with the fitters nearby to carry out major maintenance tasks during halts. Then we'd take over the spearhead and get ahead of the Division, trying to thrust tens of kloms out in front, seeking and engaging the enemy on the route of march. The pace was relentless, quite often tanks in the company would drop out and have to wait for the first recovery mechanics to catch up with them. When we were kids we'd have a steel bath once a week or so to keep us clean for the cadres. Out here in the field we longed for some kind of cleanliness.
Once we came to an abandoned village about two days ahead of the Division. The grunts cleared the houses and we found that everything was still on, water, heat, light. Every man jack there, including the old man and the leash had bath and then we burned the place down.
The first time we met the enemy was at another one of these curious little villages, we were facing the sun and they were dug in and still in shadow, they hit one 'russ, damaging the running gear and also one of the chimera, brewing it up. Given their advantages, we were surprised that we didn't lose more. I don't remember being scared, just going straight to our training, which for us tank commanders included maintaining control over the crew. With a troop of Conquerors, we gave them an absolute hail of return fire and the infantry were straight in there.
The ambushes seemed disjointed, they were oddly spaced and appeared disorganised, sometimes there would just be antitank fire sometimes infantry without any antitank weapons and twice without any heavy weapons at all. By the emperor's grace, good for us; if the war so far had left them short, so much the better."
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| STuG Zug in front of the PzGdr FS & AT Zug |
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| 4 Pz Kompanie, 6 Hvy Pz Kompanie behind |
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| 7th Mordian Iron Guard plt & Pheaton pattern Wolverines |
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| Regt Cmd post. a troop of Hvy Pz in front |
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| CO's Stormsword |
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| 3 troop of 4 Pz Kompanie |
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| STuG Zug |
The Remit's Maw campaign on Jornath saw the KCC and it's allied Imperial Guard units give ground, some of what was given up would need to be recovered. The Valeri Pesh promethium complex, refinaries, storage, pumping stations for transcontinential pipelines and the supporting infrastructure were ceded to the greenskins.
There was a surgical strike by a small number of Adeptus Astartes which successfully decapitated the Orks therein. The remaining remaining mobz vied amongst themselves but no one band gained supremacy.
Towards the end of the war, the High Command came under increasing pressure from the Mechanium to re-take the site. With resources stretched to keep the pressure on elsewhere on Jornath, the only unit available was the remnants of the 334th Iridian Ghosts; a one time full strength IG regiment, during the years it had lost what amounted to eleven battalions worth of fighting power. The remaining battalion's companies, platoon by platoon were either hardened veterans or utterly disinterested beatniks.
Appealing to the Departmento Munitorium, additional resource was granted. Four companies of the 772nd Line Regiment and one of Death Riders duly arrived at Korsnokrat. They were survivors of the Cleansing of Radnor, where they had been clearing a Genestealer infestation from a Hive World.
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| Ork Boyz assaulting prepared DKK autocannon positions |
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| The DKK draw the mobz into the Iridian Ghosts kill zones |
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| A Mob of Boyz |
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| Occupying the intact administratum buildings. They would need to be drawn out of these. |
The DKK concept of operations was to patrol into the urban areas draw the mobz onto them, forcing the boyz to attack through a Final Protective Fire (FPF) Fire Plan. The mobz, when they final fought through the DKK positions, found themselves in Kill Zones set by the Iridian Ghosts.
The concept of operations proved itself a resounding success, the DKK were reduced to a platoon and two and half squads of Death Riders. The Ghosts lost 44 KIA and 67 wounded. As many as six hundred boyz may have been eradicated, the remainder fled Valeri Pesh and were picked off by Sons of Medusa search and destroy teams before reaching any form of safety.
