Deploying to the Xyphonica Campaign

 

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."

The lay members of the Tree of Man

 

ASL 22nd Pz Abt

STuG Zug in front of the PzGdr FS & AT Zug

4 Pz Kompanie, 6 Hvy Pz Kompanie behind

7th Mordian Iron Guard plt & Pheaton pattern Wolverines

Regt Cmd post.  a troop of Hvy Pz in front

CO's Stormsword

3 troop of 4 Pz Kompanie

STuG Zug

 Sacramento pattern Wolverine.  Much more technologically advanced than the Pheaton pattern.

The reoccupation of Valeri Pesh

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.

Ork Boyz assaulting prepared DKK autocannon positions

                                                          Mechanicum symbols still in place

                                                              The DKK moving into position

The DKK draw the mobz into the Iridian Ghosts kill zones

A Mob of Boyz

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.

No idea who these are

As you can see, the brick of scrutiny is empty today

Grenadier Miniatures Copplestone Wastelander

On the Brick of Scrutiny today-

This is Zog, a native tribal wastelander. 

He was big as a boy and hence ended up brutalised and forever shoved to front whenever there is a fight.  

Of course, as a native wastelander, he knows that intimidation is usually a better way than actual violence - there's less risk to all involved and even he who backs down gets to fight another day.

Having said that, he'll quite happily shiv you for a pop tart, after all, the wasteland can be a tough place and resources are scarce.

Grenadier Miniatures Copplestone Wastelander

On the Brick of Scrutiny today - 

Dinky Peavons was a submariner on Cadia, that being how commercial shipping is done on Cadia, due to the very real storms which mirror the warp storms in space above.  He was more or less set for life but decided that once he'd finished his nautical career, that he didn't need to stay in such an unsettling place. 

He spent a decade and a considerable amount of money travelling around and has ended up here, following a failed investment in the grox trade, now lives in the wastelands.  Like a lot of other wastelanders he carries one of those multifunctional cogitators which translates, keeps records and accounts for trading and contracts.