As a prelude to the Incunabilis campaign we tested the rules for Chaos Fleets made entirely of Daemon-Possessed Vessels. It was an internal double so to speak with Chaos vs Chaos Daemons in the Planetary Assault Scenario. Below is a "fluff" description of the battle that resulted as a victory for ... Chaos with limited loses (some meagers escorts) while the Daemon fleet lost the "Admiral" and "vice admiral" of their fleet and sustained alot of damage to other ships as well.
Not a single "assault point" was scored! Praise the Hidden Gods.
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744.211M41
Incunabilis Sector
Moerius Mortus Sub-sector
High orbit above Palas
The atmosphere of Palas was always thin; thin enough that in the space above the war vessels under the service of Myrkathul, the Exalted servant of the Hidden Gods could be seen with the naked eye.
The call had come a few weeks later. The sorcerers that Myrkathul employed had told him about the tides their whispering allies brought. The omens spoke of great waves in the Empyrean; waves that indicated more than one fleets of warship approaching the sector. To make matters more interesting they sensed the presence of upheaval in the system and although should the servants of the Corpse Emperor would become a problem if they received reinforcements the seers told of servants of the Gods also coming.
For those reasons Myrkathul had commanded all his subservient commanders to gather above Palas for briefings. Already some of the vessels had arrived hence he had also joined his lieutenants aboard the Dreadful, his Despoiler Class Battleship which served as the fleets Flagship.
It was during the first of many routine inspections that the sirens started wailing. Myrkathul approached the closest vox hub to be informed that enemy vessels had approached the area and were almost within striking range of the planet below. For a second he was dumbfounded, To make matters worse the signals revealed capital ships and nobody could tell him how such vessels had approached so close undetected.
Thankfully his presence on the ship meant his minions were aptly motivated, and terrified, and as such responded with great speed bringing the ship into full battle readiness in less than twenty minutes. Communication had already been exchanged with the other fleet vessels alerting them of the danger before Myrkathul had arrived at his bridge.
More data poured in from one of the patrolling destroyer squadrons that spoke of the enemy as Old Night designation cruisers that refused all hails and challenges. Before long he heard cries from the deck of one of the destroyers as they were fired upon but from what he saw on his screens the void shields of the destroyer held.
With a smile on his face he ordered all available ships to intercept. Fighters and assault boats were immediately launched and similarly the other fleet vessels trained their lances and weapon batteries towards the enemy.
As time progressed and the distance was reduced the two fleets started exchanging salvos. Little was done to the forces of the Exalted Champion as his ship lead from the front taking the brunt of the attacks from the enemy lances and bombers. The powerful void shields held and only minimal damage was inflicted on the battleship.
Not a single "assault point" was scored! Praise the Hidden Gods.
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744.211M41
Incunabilis Sector
Moerius Mortus Sub-sector
High orbit above Palas
The atmosphere of Palas was always thin; thin enough that in the space above the war vessels under the service of Myrkathul, the Exalted servant of the Hidden Gods could be seen with the naked eye.
The call had come a few weeks later. The sorcerers that Myrkathul employed had told him about the tides their whispering allies brought. The omens spoke of great waves in the Empyrean; waves that indicated more than one fleets of warship approaching the sector. To make matters more interesting they sensed the presence of upheaval in the system and although should the servants of the Corpse Emperor would become a problem if they received reinforcements the seers told of servants of the Gods also coming.
For those reasons Myrkathul had commanded all his subservient commanders to gather above Palas for briefings. Already some of the vessels had arrived hence he had also joined his lieutenants aboard the Dreadful, his Despoiler Class Battleship which served as the fleets Flagship.
It was during the first of many routine inspections that the sirens started wailing. Myrkathul approached the closest vox hub to be informed that enemy vessels had approached the area and were almost within striking range of the planet below. For a second he was dumbfounded, To make matters worse the signals revealed capital ships and nobody could tell him how such vessels had approached so close undetected.
Thankfully his presence on the ship meant his minions were aptly motivated, and terrified, and as such responded with great speed bringing the ship into full battle readiness in less than twenty minutes. Communication had already been exchanged with the other fleet vessels alerting them of the danger before Myrkathul had arrived at his bridge.
More data poured in from one of the patrolling destroyer squadrons that spoke of the enemy as Old Night designation cruisers that refused all hails and challenges. Before long he heard cries from the deck of one of the destroyers as they were fired upon but from what he saw on his screens the void shields of the destroyer held.
With a smile on his face he ordered all available ships to intercept. Fighters and assault boats were immediately launched and similarly the other fleet vessels trained their lances and weapon batteries towards the enemy.
As time progressed and the distance was reduced the two fleets started exchanging salvos. Little was done to the forces of the Exalted Champion as his ship lead from the front taking the brunt of the attacks from the enemy lances and bombers. The powerful void shields held and only minimal damage was inflicted on the battleship.
Their enemies, a Styx designated Heavy cruiser and two Devastations, did not fare the same fate. Numerous lances penetrated as did a few waves of assault boats. The results were troubling. Although it was obvious the assault boats had reached their targets despite the enemy fighters all contact was lost with the boarding parties. Minutes later explosions riddled the enemy capital ship proving the success of the attack. On the other hand Myrkathul watched his interest growing as none of the crews seemed to return to their assault boats.
Instead, in the blink of the eye all enemy contacts disappeared. He screamed at the men controlling the sensor servitors to check and recheck but the result was the same. No contact. The enemy vessels disappeared along with any and all assault boats as well as their own cloud of fighters.
Before he had time to vent off his frustration at a bridge officer that was trying to get his attention the Oculus at the middle of the command screen lit up. The panicked voice of the captain of the Deviant, the Hades class Heavy Cruiser that Myrkathul noticed was still on high orbit despite his orders, made all heads turn from their posts.
“By the powers! They came from nowhere! They are all around us! My Lord I require assistance! Three enemy capital ships have appeared without any previous indication in orbit around the planet. Sire no human culture has the ability to cloak ships of that size and the moment they appeared the Astropath and Navigator started screaming and went into fits. Sire, it means only one thing. IT has sent the creature-ships to destroy the planet, after 111 years of truce; Fthonos is trying to consumer Palas once again! “
The Chaos Champion smiled, his filed teeth glinting in the light reflected from the screens before him.
“Bring me the witch” he growled and soon after the wretch that was always kept on board for such an eventuality, was brought before him. The woman was blind and ritual scarring marked her face yet she seemed to sense what was going on and was struggling against her captors. As the champion rose from his throne and approached the two men turned their heads not wishing to see what would happen.
Although not very gifted Myrkathul still possessed some rudimentary abilities from dabbing into sorcery and this was one of the first rituals his mentor had taught him. He drew the long adorned golden knife and plunged it deep in the woman’s belly and as her screams started to fill the room he also spoke the arcane words that made his throat bleed from tension. As the woman slumped to the floor blood oozing around her he lowered himself near her face and spoke.
“Be prepared to be destroyed Daemons for none crosses Myrkathul the Champion of the Gods no matter how close to them they may be. If you are hearing this I give you one chance to join me in the coming days or be destroyed.”
From the on it went downhill for the Daemon Fleet. The crew aboard most vessels in this regions were drilled and indoctrinated on this eventuality as the agreement reached between the renegade forces and the intellect known as Fthonos the Daemon Price was not just known but branded in every second child born from humans in this sub-sector. Such children were raised till their eleventh year and then sacrificed to appease him.
For those reasons only a few minutes passed and reports had already trickled in. The trap had been sprung and as the daemon-vessels re-appeared this time in low orbit, the hidden escorts as well as the now powered up Deviant fired upon the enemy flagship. This time before it had time to dematerialize the plasma drives were punctured from the numerous lance hits and an explosion of great magnitude took the whole ship with it. Some of the destroyers perished in the explosion as well but that was irrelevant. One of the other possessed vessels went up next, the debris as well as the concentrated fire from the vessels returning to the planet overloading the void shields first and then destroying it completely as its own plasma reactors exploded as well.
As the entities in the remaining vessels sensed the death of their kin and their auspex arrays showed them the approaching flagship they did the one thing they could.
Space above the planet became calm once more as the remaining four daemon cruisers disappeared in the blink of an eye. It would rain debris on Palas for weeks to come.
