Steel Lightning: Cadian 25th Assault Engineer company

A Warhammer 40K campaign started at our club, which has been generated a lot of excitement and been very successful in mobilizing many veteran gamers to dig up their old armies. This has certainly happened to me, and I have even found myself painting new additions to my already quite extensive collection of Imperial Guard (or whatever they're called nowadays).

In a flurry of nocturnal painting I finished a platoon of veteran guardsmen I had assembled maybe 5-6 years ago and tuned up their transports with some battle damage. I had originally assembled the force because I thought the theme was cool, so it's a nice surprise that they now constitute a "formation" in 40K, which get some nice bonuses to boot. Score!

The 25th Assault Engineer company is a separate formation that is permanently attached to the Cadian 6th Armoured Regiment. Their tasks are manifold: clearing and bridging obstacles, escorting the regiment's Leman Russ battle tanks, securing objectives and assaulting fortified enemy positions. The veterans are armed with shotguns, meltaguns, meltabombs, flamers, demolition charges and other "tools of the trade". Each squad is mounted on a Chimera APC and the platoon is supported by two Hellhound flame-thrower tanks. The company is commanded by Major Steele, a hardened veteran with almost as many bionic replacements than "original" parts.

1st squad

2nd squad

Major Steele with his command squad

Squad 3

The platoon's AFVs

One of the battle-worn Chimeras

A Hellhound from Forge World

Encounter at Joyle's Depot

The deep thud of a heavy bolter sounded off in the distance, accompanied by a few shotgun blasts. The battle was already quieting down and Major Steele, commander of 3rd platoon, 52nd Cadian assault engineer regiment was already contemplating his next move. The grizzled veteran walked around a wrecked Chaos war-engine that his men were rigging with explosives. More Cadians were busy dispatching the enemy wounded and dragging the fallen of both sides to massive heaps. Everything that had been tainted by Chaos would be incinerated or blown up, just in case. The several Leman Russ wrecks of Cadian 6th armoured would be salvaged and, if possible, repaired by the regiments enginseers.

The task force's mission had been a success, but its implications worried the Major. The platoon of assault engineers, supported by a squadron of Leman Russ battle tanks, had been tasked with investigating what had happened at Joyle's Depot. The little village, which had acted as one of the regiment's supply dumps, had gone awfully quiet a few days ago. Upon arrival, the Cadians found the village littered with bodies and reeking of intoxicating scents. Chaos!

Cultists were busy organising some form of ritual in nearby woods and unnatural daemons lurked in the shadows. Major Steele immediately ordered an attack, which had gone well. Advancing on a broad front, the Imperial tanks had laid down a withering fire, which cut down many of the smaller daemons that were gathered in some kind of vile celebration. 

The surprised Slaanesh forces counter-attacked with all sorts of daemonic war engines and Chaos monstrosities, which materialized behind the guardsmen and on their flanks. Several Leman Russ tanks were destroyed by the massive claws of the Chaos monsters while the rest lumbered forward. Unperturbed, Major Steele had ordered his assault engineers to press on with the attack and the mobile veterans obliterated each threat before it got out of hand.

The battle was short and brutal. Imperial losses were light while virtually the entire Chaos host was cut down. Only the leader of the cultists managed to escape, while the daemons disappeared into the Warp whence they had come from. Major Steele knew from experience though, that the fight was not over. Every last one of those cultists would have to be hunted down and the village would have to be purified. This was only the beginning.

Cadian armour rolls into the village

Enemy sighted, fire at will!

The daemonic horde is caught off-guard

Major Steele's HQ races to secure an objective

A Chaos monster races forward at unnatural speed and rips a Leman Russ in two with its claws

Cadian infantry counter-attacks and destroys the monstrosity with well-aimed melta shots

Chaos Spawn and the vile warlord of the Chaos host arrive from outflank...

Cadian veterans redeploy and take down the Chaos outflankers with well-placed shotgun blasts

A daemonic sorcer lands in a deadly cross-fire and is eventually destroyed

Forward for Cadia!

Chaos forces are in a tight spot as the Imperial tanks lumber on

Major Steele is victorious!

Return to Grimdark

As with most gamers, I originally got into the hobby with Games Workshop's games. These used to be all the rage, and I even worked as a GW salesman for some five years during my studies. Slowly, other games infiltrated my hobby time and my massive Fantasy and Warhammer 40K collections haven't seen any action for the past 3-4 years. It was high time to return to the Grimdark!

We decided to play a 1.500 point game of Warhammer 40K with a good friend, whom I originally met via 40K some 15 years ago. Fortunately he'd been playing the game recently and could inculcate me in the newest set of rules. The scenario pit my loyal Space Marines against traitorous Chaos Marines and their Daemonic allies. The Chaos Marines had desecrated the ruins of an Imperial temple and opened a portal through which they had begun to summon all manner of hellish fiends. My objective was to capture and close the portal. Secondary objectives were to rescue a downed Space Marine pilot and extract a portable monitoring station.

My force consisted of a demi-company of marines from the Raptors chapter (50 space marines following "Codex" organization) led by Chaplain Kerberos. Due to the unholy nature of the mission, this task-force was reinforced by Librarian Nestor and a squad of Terminators, who would be arriving from deep-strike. A squad of Chaos Marines, Keeper of Secrets, Dreadnought and a Maulerfiend were deployed within the temple. Plenty more Chaos filth would be arriving from the warp.

Unholy rites taking place within the desecrated temple

Not a man left behind!

I started the game by rushing forward with most of my army. In the centre, two Tactical squads raced forward in Rhinos, while a squad of Assault Marines hovered closely behind. A third Tactical Squad advanced on my right and rapidly formed a perimeter around the wounded pilot. My Devastators had been split into two 5-man squads and took up good firing positions on either flank.

Devastators take up firing positions

Rhino transports advance under a smoke screen

As soon as my loyalists approached, the forces of Chaos spewed forth from the temple. The Keeper of Secrets took to its wings and started casting nasty spells on my forces. The daemonic war-engines rushed for my marines, with the Maulerfiend ripping open one of the Rhino transports. A second Rhino was fortunately protected by the smoke screen.

Chaos monstrosities spill forth and rapidly wreck the one of the Rhinos

Unperturbed, my marines raced forward to secure the temple. Supported by Nestor's deep-striking terminators, a squad of tactical marines and a squad of assault marines stormed the temple and knocked out the Chaos Dreadnought and most of the Chaos Marines. Purple fires flickered and black shadows flashed at the edge of the marine's vision as reality was ripped asunder. In an instant, these shadows had materialized into a might Daemon Prince and a great score of lesser daemons.

The daemons unleashed horrible psychic attacks on the marines, who stood their ground and unleashed a storm of sanctified bolter rounds and flamer gushes at the daemons. This did not deter the unholy daemons, who assault the loyalist marines both within the temple and near the secondary objectives.

Space Marines storm the temple

Daemons emerge...

... and more daemons ...

... and more daemons!

Furious combat erupts on the objective

In a few graceful strides, the Daemon Prince was upon Nestor and his bodyguard. The ancient Space Marine Librarian knew what was coming, said a few blessed words and readied his force axe and storm shield. The Space Marine hero parried the Daemon's strokes, but that was all he could do. The Daemon moved with unholy speed and even with the gift of psychic foresight, the Librarian was hard pressed to keep up. The parries were becoming ever more sluggish, until the revered Space Marine hero finally missed his mark. The Daemon Prince's blade sliced through Nestor's armour like a knife through butter. At first, the cut seemed pleasant, even rapturous. The caress of the daemonic sword was fickle though and, in the blink of an eye, the sensation became one of utmost agony. The Librarian died screaming.

A struggle of titans

The lesser daemons infesting the temple were eliminated after a short combat, after which the remaining marines turned to assist the beleaguered Librarian. The succour came too late and the marines were forced to watch as their champion was struck down. With a savage scream, Chaplain Kerberos led the tactical and assault marines against the Daemonic monstrosity. The Daemon Prince struck down a great many of the marines, but there were simply too many of the Emperor's Finest. In the end, the daemonic monstrosity was overwhelmed and sent back to the Warp.

The Daemon Prince is overwhelmed

The Daemonic incursion had been repelled in other sectors as well, and the Space Marines now controlled most of the battlefield. The few remaining Chaos Marines fled the field and the Space Marines proceeded to despatch the few remaining daemons from this world. Chaplain Kerberos hurriedly closed the Chaos portal and started the arduous process of re-sanctifying the temple with blessings and holy seals. This incursion had been stopped before it could get out of hand, but where would the arch-enemy strike next?