The End of the War

The Arrival of the Inquistion was a fatal moment for the forces on Orion Zeta-69

It was rumoured, by troops who were evacuated from the surface, that the planet was destroyed.

Rumoured image of Orion-Zeta 69 ten years after the Orion Wars, taken by Rogue Trader Trellis Reen, ignoring an Ordo Exclusionatis, on the search for rumoured Xenos artifacts. 

The Third and Last Battle of Charon Hive

Imperial Troops push back into Charon Hive.  The previous Xenos forces had been driven out, and a large percentage of the remaining populations safely evacuated, and taken into the care of the Inquistion who removed those who had been tainted by Xenos contamination.  

Unknown Lord Commissar in ferocious hand to hand fighting with a Xenos Champion.  Reports tell how the Xenos warrior came back to life after being chopped down to the ground.

The once-mighty Charon Hive was reduced to rubble as Xenos aircraft poured in in overwhelming force.  For the first time in the campaign, the Imperial Navy were unable to clear the skies.  Inquisitor Wodin Grime ordered a withdrawal from the planet's surface. 

The Second Battle of Charon Hive

Note from Imperial Archives: While this battle was know as the Second Battle of Charon Hive, it was in fact the third battle that was found by Imperial Forces.  Sources that have been marked at Crimson Level of Secrecy record a number of battles fought between Xenos Forces. 

Lightning Strikes north keep the Xenos foe on the back foot

Commissars keep the troops moving forward into the haunted ruins of Charon Hive

At first no oppostion was encountered.  Soon though, the Imperial Forces were fighting enemies on all sides.

Huge Xenos creatures dropped down amongst the Advance Forces.  These were assumed to be Dark Eldar creations at first, but many men claimed that these creatures were also seen attacking the foe.

Mecharian Cross

Imperial Forces died to the last.  Showing great courage in the face of overwhelming enemies. A number of medals were won in the battle: imcluding the Triple Skull for a number of units who took devastating losses, and three Stars of Terra, awarded postumously.

The second battle for Charon Hive

An armoured column moves deeper into the hive on mine clearance duty but fall foul of a tyranid ambush.

 Dorsal mounted pict feed from vendetta gunship 'Red 5' perfectly capturing the image of a winged hive tyrant and in the background a subspecies of tervigon. Analysis of these images would become vital in the defense of Orion-89 Zeta.

 Trygons and carnifexes rampaging through one of the many town squares of Charon Hive.

Embattled heroic squads of guardsmen, although hopelessly outmatched stand firm in the face of certain death at the scythes and claws of the gargantuan tyranid creatures.

Forces of the dark eldar surrounded by lesser tyranid creatures - believed to be the genus 'termagant'.

Images taken of the hive city 48 hours after the battle showing the transformations already taking place. The flora and fauna undergoing massive accelerated growth. Cleanse and burn protocols are in effect for any subsequent mission to retake Charon Hive.

Three weeks into the Dark Eldar occupation of Charon Hive and Qlashrin Gret was just starting to truly enjoy himself. He stood on an outcropping of ruins that had formed the roof of one of the inner Imperial cathedrals that thousands of the hivers had flocked to before the Dark Eldar came. They were there again now, albeit in an existence they had never expected.

Gazing down at them now, his heart swelled to see the beauty of his new children. Herded by his faithful wracks, he saw a thousand of the experimental test subjects he had worked on the week before. They crawled in the dirt now, oblivious to their beauty. Men and women, old and young, all had received his blessing. Some had been rearranged so that their organs were placed externally, beating hearts and pulsing intestines exposed to the elements. Others who had begged not to be separated from their loved ones by their captors had been granted their wish and grafted together; mouth to sphincter or even by their abdomens being fused together so that they might share their digestive systems. Elsewhere he saw a man who had been crucified and fed growth stimulants  so that now his body was a great bloated mass of flesh and thick veins that hung down to the ground several feet below him and carpeted the floor where some of Gret’s lesser creations sunk teeth into glands and suckled away the bile and juices he produced so that they could later vomit it into Gret’s mixing vials.

The March on Orax Point

[We decided to combine Aeronautica and the 40K battle.  I had 2225 points of IG attacking 1500 points of Dark Eldar for control of Orax Point Star Port.  Caz sacrificed 10% of his points to play an aeronautica game.  We decided on a ground attack mission, with epic tanks representing the tanks in my army.  Each successful hit was a penetrating hit on the vehicle damage table.  Worked OK, as I had such a points advantate to begin with, but ended up loosing all three leman russes before the hydra and the autocanon sabre platforms took the last ground attack craft down and we all bugged out]

Imperial commissars imposed harsh discipline on the TAPs regiments, replacing the hereditary officer class with veteran officers.  Their leadership proved vital in the battles ahead. . 



Imperial Navy Thunderbolt Squadron 4467 shadow the advancing armoured columns as they advance through the night towards Orax Point Starport, where a number of prometheum refineries were still burning.



Attack craft shrug the thunderbolts aside and cause serious havoc on the ground, and some units fell back in confusion.  Only prompt action on behalf of Imperial commissars bolstered the TAPs brigade's courage.

Dawn Breaks at Orax Point: despite loosing a large amount of amour on the march south, the weight of the Imperial Hammer is overwhelming.  Terrified Xenos flee at the sight as Vendetta gunships lead the attack and Lord Commissar Varndt leads from the front. 





TAPs regiments surge forward as the might of the Imperium brushes the Xenos scum aside.

Lord Commissar Varndt led from the front throughout the whole battle, despite taking a poisoned power blade cut to the thigh.  Only after the star port had been securred did he finally relent and allow medics to treat him with anti-toxins.  This pict was taken by a rememberancer at the moment of victory.  it was quickly and widely distributed into loyal Imperial sectors, and caused moral to sore at last.  'That picture was worth 10,000 troops,' Varndt later wrote in his memoires, 'Returning Orion 89-Zeta to Imperial Light, Second Edition'

[thoughts on combining the two games: I'm a big fan of AI and so it was a blast to play a game where I had to defend my ground troops.  I was starting to feel that the scenario was a little skewed against me, as Caz sacrificed 150 points and ended up killing nearly 500 points of leman russes.  But then I took out his last bomber and forced him to bug out.  As I had attacked with two armies, and had 50% extra points it actually evened the follow-up 40K game out a little.  Definately worth trying.  And perhaps rather than a successful wound on a tank being a penetrating hit, perhaps more fair would be following the AI rules - where you need two wounds to kill ground targets.   Though in fairness, I think Caz's Dark Eldar bombers did at least one wound on each tank they hit.  Pulsars and missiles make great ground attack weapons.]

UPDATE



Having reclaimed the starport, and with the southern penninsular highlands fortified with trenches and rapidly reployed bastions, Imperial Commanders now turned their attention to the north, where Xenos scum were tormenting the survivors of Charon Hive. With the subhive zones securely in the hands of the Imperial Forces, Lord Commissar Varndt was confident that he could drive the Xenos forces from Charon Hive.  With Orax Point Starport back in Imperial hands, massive supplies of reserves were shuttled down to the surface and quickly deployed in three massive columns that drove north.  

[Attn: Magos Hoffman]

[Encryption level: Alpha 1++]
[From: Black Ship 709, Ordo Xenos, inbound to Orion 89-Zeta System]

MESSAGE BEGINS:
Image received....
.....urge extreme caution.......
........anticipate my arrival within four solar days.....
....ENDS.

Wodin Grimes
Ordo Xenos