Braxxis Campaign

[Caladai Doomblade]

Hieronder komen, vanaf een week voor de campaign (14 mei dus) te staan wat er zoal gaat gebeuren, zodat iedereen weet waar ie aan toe is. Ook komen hier de battle reports te staan.

[Caladai Doomblade]

Braxxis Campaign storyline

In the year M41.094 the planet Braxxis was visited by war. A number of different enemies appeared almost simultaneously on the planet, each preparing to make war to achieve their goals.



History
The events on Braxxis were set in motion over a hundred years before the first battles in the West-Hatari region broke out. The Eldar farseer Ke'sar of the craftworld Shai Tan saw in a vision of the future that a long war was coming between her craftworld and the Dark Eldar. This war would wax and wane for many decades, but eventually the Dark Eldar would prove to strong and in a direct assault on Shai Tan would wipe out the Eldar of that craftworld. Their only salvation lay in activating Shai Tan's most powerful weapon, a Phantom Titan. But to control a titan requires a spirit of incredible and rare strength, and such a spirit was not to be found within the Shai Tan infinity circuit. Instead, they would have to search for a soulstone containing the spirit of a legendary warrior of the Eldar. Such a stone was buried beneath the sands of an ancient maiden world, colonized by humans many millennia ago. A world they called Braxxis.

Shai Tan is a relatively small craftworld, and their forces would not be sufficient to obtain the soulstone, which was buried somewhere under an Imperial complex somewhere in the deserts of West-Hatari. To create a distraction for the Imperial forces, the Eldar secretly planted Ork spores on the planet, knowing that the threat of Orks would result in Imperial forces putting everything else aside to contain them. However, while the Orks prospered, they failed to notice, and be noticed by, the humans on the planet. The Ork settlements where located deep within the jungles of the island Jadin, and they were not aware of the concept of war. They fought each other occasionally, but for Orks they where quite peaceful. To remedy this problem, the Eldar captured Orks from a whaaagh raging in a distant sector, and dropped the captured Orks near the tribe settlements. These Orks, used to war as they were, quickly taught the feral Orks technology and the meaning of Whaaagh. The jungles of Jadin was used as a gigantic training ground for the famous Braxxin Stormguard, and the Orks scavenged abandoned tanks and equipment from the training grounds and used them to build weapons and vehicles.

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The Rule and the Dragon

While all this was being set in motion, the dark gods of Chaos got wind of the Eldars plans. Perturabo, primarch and daemon lord of the Iron Warriors, sent a message to one of his trusted generals, The Iron Ruler, also known as 'The Rule'. Mad Melgior, the chief sorcerer of the The Rule, received this message, and relayed it to his lord and master. The Rule saw in this the perfect opportunity for a good fight. He wanted to kill the Eldar and foil their plans, thereby ensuring their destruction, plunge a planet belonging to the False Emperor into chaos, and obtain the soulstone to bargain with it. The soul within that stone was a prize worth dying for, and with the right rituals, it could be traded for daemonhood and immortality. The Rule quickly gathered his forces and set a course with his flagship Eternal Domination towards Braxxis. It was a long trip, so speed was of the essence if the Iron Warriors were to beat the Eldar to the prize.

Only 3 days travel from Braxxis, the Iron Warrior fleet ran into a spot of trouble. A strike force from the Salamanders Space Marine Chapter detected them and set off in pursuit. The Salamanders strike force was no match for the Iron Warrior fleet, but the Iron Warriors could not afford the time to destroy or chase them off first, so the Salamanders continued the chase, wanting to know where the Iron Warriors were heading. Captain Kabor of the Salamanders was on his way to patrol the newly pacified Porais sector and its surroundings, but coming across the Iron Warriors fleet was much higher priority than a standard patrol, and though Kabor knew his fleet could do little to stop the Iron Warriors, by following them he could at least assist any Imperial forces that might prove the target of the Iron Warriors. Kabor's fleet was noticably faster than the Chaos ships, so he could pursue them in relative safety, being able to flee quickly should the Iron Warriors attack them, but having no worries about them outrunning the Salamander ships.

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Allies

The people of Braxxis were quite unaware of the prize they harbored on their planet, and their planet had not seen war in hundreds of years. The planet was only defended by a token fleet of a single cruiser and two light cruisers. No match for any serious assault, and certainly no match for the chaos fleet heading full speed towards the planet. The West-Hatari region was defended by the Braxxin PDF under the command of High Marshal Tevan Corliss and a regiment of the Braxxin Stormguard, the 306th under the command of Colonel Gan Revanna. Both were experienced commanders, but there forces were limited due to the longstanding peace in the region. There were two other forces present on Braxxis though.

There was a regiment of the Jantine Patricians on the planet. The Jantine Patrician 24th had been in battle for 4 years a number of sectors away, fighting against rebels on Porais I, and they were currently on Braxxis on shore-leave in Somu Hive awaiting newly issued equipment. Their transport vessels were not built for war though, and the single escort squadron assigned to them was already on the way back to the Porais sector.

The other Imperial presence on Braxxis were space marines. The Dark Angels 5th company, with support from a few Ravenwing squadrons, was on Braxxis for jungle and desert training. They had a strike cruiser and an escort squadron in orbit, and at the time the war began only the Ravenwing elements of the force were on planet, training in the desert of Uraki.

[Caladai Doomblade]

War

On M41.094.01.04 two things happened. First, an Iron Warrior fleet came out of warp near Braxxis. A quick space battle ensued, but the Imperials could not stop the larger and more powerful chaos fleet. Dreadclaw drop pods and larger transport vessels quickly deployed a large chaos force in the Mitashi province where they secured fuel resources by capturing a large fuel depot to power their vehicles. After this drop, the Chaos fleet quickly disengaged from the planet and moved to the outer rim of the system. Hours after the chaos fleet had broken off from orbit the Salamanders strike force chasing them entered the system. Now the Imperial fleet slightly outgunned and outnumbered the Chaos fleet, but with chaos forces already on the surface, this was little consolation to the Imperial defenders. The Chaos fleet stayed far out of range on the outskirts of the system, making any assault useless as the Iron Warrior ships would just enter warp space should any Imperial vessel come to close. Almost at the same time as the chaos forces dropped to the planet, the jungles of Jadin vomited forth a large horde of Orks.

The Orks assaulted the Imperial training base on Jadin, and soon after they captured the command posts of the facilities, overrunning the shocked defenders quickly. Soon after, they realized that the island they were on was only a small part of the world they were on, and they continued their attack with new fury, trying to capture as many boats as possible before the Imperial forces could take or sink them.

A day later, on the 5th of January, a rock formation in the Uraki desert started to tremble, the brittle sandstone splitting and crumbling, revealing a webway gate lighting up with blue light. From this gate sped the falcons, wave serpents, jetbikes and vipers of the Shai Tan craftworld. Sure that their distraction had started, and pushed into quick action by the arrival of Chaos forces, they raced unnoticed over the sand-dunes of Uraki, towards their goal and the salvation of their craftworld.

The war has begun.

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The First Battles

The Ork attack on the Braxxin Training base on Jadin was only the first of many battles to be fought during the short but brutal war. As the Salamanders strike force came into orbit around Braxxis, they quickly identified the Iron Warriors landing site from orbital scans. They waited a few hours to see what the Iron Warriors would do, for their force was much larger than the Salamanders 3rd company and an all out attack would have to be well coordinated. Contact was made with the Planetary military officials, most notaby High Marshal Tevan Corliss of the Braxxin Stormguard, and also with Company Master Gabriel of the Dark Angels 5th company, still on the planet conducting training exercises on the other side of the planet.

The Dark Angels could be of little help. They only had a token force in orbit and the closest forces on the planet were a Ravenwing force training 3000 miles to the south. The PDF and the Braxxin Stormguard were also otherwise occupied, being under attack from Orks on Jadin and unable to transport sufficient forces to the Mitashi region. Then, the Iron Warriors force started to move west quickly, and the Salamanders quickly saw an opportunity to at least harrass their sworn enemy, even if they could not stop them yet. They assembled a small strike force to destroy the fuel depot captured by the Iron Warriors within hours of their landing. Eliminating the Iron Warriors fuel reserves would at least slow them down, and would give the defenders more time to assemble forces to deal with the invaders.

Two thunderhawks swept down about 20 miles south from the fuel depot just before daybreak, and the Salamanders inside covered that distance quickly on foot. Undetected, they neared the lightly guarded depot. They would have to strike quickly, because there were still Iron Warrior forces in the immediate area, and if the Iron Warriors brought in reinforcements, the Salamanders would be quickly overrun.

Further south, the Eldar forces sped across the desert when they picked up enemy signals to the North-West. Unable to bypass the enemy force outside enemy sensor range, they realised if they were to remain undetected for longer they would have to quickly eliminate the enemy force. The enemy turned out to be two squadrons of Ravenwing bikes training in the desert. Disrupting all communications to prevent the Space Marines warning their brothers, the Eldar struck like lightning in an attempt to wipe out the Dark Angel bikers before they could escape to a nearby settlement or base.

[Caladai Doomblade]

Chapter 1

1.1 First contact

On Jadin, the first battle in the war on Braxxis was fought between the Orks of Klan Krusha and the Braxxin Stormguard stationed on Training Base Alpha. The Orks launched their attack almost without warning. Only 15 minutes before the assault the scanners located on the base picked up the horde, and by then there was only time to hand out live ammo to the troops on duty.

Training Base Alpha was quickly overrun by the Orks, but the harbor was located on the far side of the base, and the defenders put up a decent fight here in an attempt to stop the Orks from capturing the boats. They succeeded at first, killing the few Orks that came that way. Then, the Ork warlord discovered maps of Braxxis and realised they needed the boats to get off the island.

The Ork warlord led the attack on the harbor area himself. In their newly build trucks and supported by bikeboyz. The defenders were spread thin, but quickly converged on the point of the assault. Not quickly enough however, as the speed of the Orks carried them quickly into the defenders. Up close, the guardsmen were no match for the martial power of the Orks, and they were overrun before enough reinforcements could arrive, but not before the Ork Warboss Bullit was laid low by a torrent of lasfire.

Aftermath

The Orks raided Training Base Alpha, taking it apart to construct more weapons and vehicles. Warboss Bullit was found laying in a pool of blood in the harbor, three dozen laswounds bleeding across his body and his left arm ripped away by a grenade. Klan Krusha's Docs and Meks set to work immediately on recovering Bullit and fixin him up.

With the captured boats, they crossed the waters to the Hatari mainland. The Braxxin Air Force tried to take out as many ships as possible during the crossing, but the incredible amount of firepower the Orks looted from the base made it extremely difficult for them to come close to the ships. A few transports were destroyed, but the greatest part of the Whaaagh landed on the shores of Otarin. Once landed, the Ork force started moving north, looking for new foes to fight. Braxxin High Command continues to monitor their progress in order to organise a coherent defence. They have other enemies to worry about however.


1.2 Weaken the Iron

The Salamander strike force closed in on the Iron Warriors fuel depot. The snipers split off to the east, searching for a good position and finding it easilly in a forest from where they could overlook the depot. More than a dozen Iron Warriors were guarding the facility, and the scouts quickly sent their positional data to the rest of the force. The Salamanders had not counted on quite so many defenders, but the attack was on and there was no stopping now. The assault marines each chose their path towards the depot, first moving allong the ground as long as they were not spotted yet, their green armour blending into the surroundings nicely. The veterans followed them closely, their pouches loaded with extra vengeance round clips, perfect for killing traitor marines.

The assault started well, with the assault marines closing the distance to the depot quickly. As soon as they got in range of the Iron Warriors bolters however, they were blasted from the air by the traitors. With the assault marines gone, the Salamanders were at a disadvantage, and even the vengeance caused by the Sternguard was not enough. Only 30 meters from the first fuel tank, a sternguard was gunned down by fire from a predator, and from all sides, chaos reinforcements raced to help their beleagerred brothers.

Their mission failed, the remaining sternguard and scouts quickly retreated towards their drop zone, dragging as many of their wounded brothers as they could. The fuel depots defences were strengthened by the Iron Warrior after the raid, making a new strike impossible.

Aftermath

With the Salamanders already striking behind their lines, and still a long way from their real objective, The Rule planned a diversion to keep the Imperials guessing their real goal. He ordered his trusted lieutenant Claw to lead a fast force north towards Somu Hive. The Imperials would be forced to react to this force and would need to put up a defence to stop the Iron Warriors from reaching Somu. Claw would have to make sure that their attack was as threatening as possible, and he would also need some fast units that could rejoin the real Iron Warriors force heading south after the battle.

The Rule was right. With the Iron Warriors force started heading towards Somu Hive, the Imperials reacted quickly. A large force of Braxxin Stormguard was mobilised to occupy a defensive bunker line in the north of the Mitashi province. The Salamanders, aching for revenge, also mobilised a larger force to assist in the defense of the bunker line against the Iron Warriors. If they could stop the Iron Warriors in their tracks here, they could free up more forces to handle the Iron Warriors heading south. If the Iron Warriors could not be destroyed however, they would need to pour in more guard forces to defend the line. Forces that could be better used elsewhere.

1.3 Speed Kills

The Ravenwing training in the desert were entirely unaware of the Eldar closing in on their position. In the middle of practising formations and outflanking manouvres, a dozen jetbikes and two vipers from the Shai Tan craftworld appeared over the dunes and opened fire on the Dark Angels. Several bikers dropped from their saddles, and an attack bike and a bike exploded in great fireballs as bright lance beams ruptured their high-octane fuel tanks. The rest of the Ravenwing quickly gathered their wits, and the leader of the force ordered them to bring warning to a nearby base.

While one survivor of Tereas squadron charged straight towards the aliens in an attempt to hold them up, the rest of the Ravenwing gunned their engines and raced off to the west to warn the planet of the precence of Eldar. With the jetbikes and vipers racing in pursuit, another squadron was decimated by shuriken and brightlance fire, and only a single squadron and an attack bike still raced on, while two of their brothers bravely sacrificed themselves to keep the jetbikes contained.

As the remaining Ravenwing thought they were almost away, a falcon came screaming over the sand dunes towards them. Lowering its hatch, four dark reapers and the Eldar Farseer herself disembarked, blocking the way. The fire from the falcon blowing another bike to bits. It was not enough for the eldar however. As the reapers opened fire, the farseer guiding their aim and supported by the fire of the falcon and the pursuing vipers, they had to watch helplessly while a single attack bike, its passenger hanging limply in the side-cart, sped away behind a dune, its speed to fast for even the Eldar to catch up.

Aftermath

As soon as the Ravenwing attack bike entered their training camp, the warning was carried to the communications tent and was spread to the rest of the Imperial forces. Orbital scanners were aimed on the desert regions where the Eldar had been sighted and they were quickly picked up. With the Iron Warriors heading towards Somu and the Orks heading north, there was nothing that the Imperials could do at the moment to stop the Eldar.

An investigating force recovered 3 intact bikes and 4 wounded space mareines from the escape attempt. The Eldar had taken a heavy toll, but had not waited around to finish any survivors.

As the Imperials followed the movements of the Eldar, they noted that the Eldar were heading on a collision course with the Ork Whaaagh. Perhaps these two alien forces could kill each other without the Imperials getting involved. The Eldar noted the Ork force much later, as without orbital scanners they had to rely on the scanners on their falcons and only detected the Ork horde when they were less than a hundred miles from it. The Eldar had no time to wait while the Ork horde passed to the north, and so they would have to break through them.

[Caladai Doomblade]

Chapter 2

The Iron Warriors make a diversionary strike towards Somu Hive, and the Salamanders and Braxxin Stormguard occupy an old bunker line to stop and destroy them. The Eldar, in the meantime, run into the Ork Whaaagh heading north. They don't have time to to round it, and decide to break through the Orks.

[Caladai Doomblade]

Chapter 2

2.1 Against the Current

The Ork column that was heading north was kicking up a giant duststorm. The Eldar rangers had difficulty scouting out the best route to break through the Orks and continue west. The main force had already progressed north when Farseer Ke'sars patience ran out. She knew the Iron Warriors were moving towards the location of the Soulstone and they didn't have time to spare. They had to beat the Iron Warriors to the prize at any cost, and so she ordered the Eldar forces forward.

The Eldar came screaming across the hills and woods towards the Ork horde at full speed, giving the Orks very little time to prepare before the Eldar were on top of them. Still, there were a lot of Orks and vehicles in the way, and while the Eldar were fast, they could not prevent the Orks from engaging them with firearms and in combat. Heavy fire forced the jetbikes and falcons towards the ground in an attempt to gain some cover, but not all of them could escape the Orks and a lot of the Eldar were engaged or shot, preventing the rest of the Eldar to break through.

The Orks were quite happy to be attacked. They had not seen any battle since their sea-journey when they were attacked by aircraft, and they were itching for a fight. While the Eldar that did get into combat didn't give the Orks the fight they were hoping for, it was still enough to instill the feeling of Whaaagh in them that they were longing for.

Aftermath

With a lot of their men dead, the main Eldar force retreated and waited for the Orks to pass, delaying them for more than a day. The forces that did break through were so small that they had to wait for the rest of their force to catch up with them. The delay gave the Iron Warriors main force a chance to come closer to their target while the Eldar waited, and it gave the Imperial forces in the Area time to locate the Eldar forces more accurately and devise a counter-strategy to stop the Eldar.

The Eldar, after waiting for the Ork horde to pass, continued on west toward the Daikiri mountain range. Imperial High Command immediately mobilised a force of Braxxin Stormguard to await the Eldar in the mountains and ambush them. There are few safe passes in the mountains for an army to pass through, and the Imperial guard were dropped near an almost perfect ambush place. A great pass stretches for dozens of miles from east to west, a great wall of rock on one side, and the foothils of other mountains on the other. The Eldar would almost certainly follow this route, and the guard were lying in wait for them.

The Orks meanwhile are heading north with more enthusiasm, their spirits raised by pummeling the Eldar into the ground. The fighting experience the Orks are gaining with each battle is making them ever more dangerous. They continue heading north, looking for more enemies to batter. Unknown to either of them they were heading straight for the Iron Warriors main force heading south.


2.2 Bunker Assault

The Claw led the Iron Warrior decoy force heading north towards Somu Hive. Near the border of the Mitashi province they finally met opposition in the form of the Katana Bunker line, occupied a day earlier by Braxxin Stormguard and Salamander forces to stop the Iron Warriors. If the Iron Warriors could make enough of an impression here, they could shift attention away from their main force heading south.

In the pouring rain, wind wipping across the battlefield, the Iron Warriors started their assault. The weather was against them though, blocking their lines of sight at the bunkers and slowing them down, while the Imperial seemed better able to use the lulls in the storm to wittle them down. Two bunkers were destroyed before the Iron Warriors were forced to call off their attack, the storm intesifying and the Imperial defenders to strong to overcome. Still, they had made a decent impression, and the Imperial Guard would need to sent more forces if they were to attempt to destroy them.

Aftermath

The storm continued for two more days before finally abating. During this time, Imperial Guard reinforcements strenghtened the bunker line and rebuild some of the fortifications. The Iron Warriors meanwhile were pulling almost all of their remaining forces away from bunker line, quickly heading south to join up with the main force. A token force would have to try to convince the Imperials that the Iron Warriors were still there in strength and keep the Salamanders busy.

Just as the Claw rejoined the main force in the south of Kun Sai, their scanners started to pick up a large number of signals directly south. At first they assumed that the Imperials had come to stop them, but soon their bike outriders reported a great Ork horde heading directly towards them. After their initial surprise, The Rule realised they could not escape battle here, and they would have to force the Orks to the east or west in order to continue heading south. He sent his forces forward to pull up a battle line. A bit of a fight would do his men good.

The Salamanders strike cruiser in orbit also spotted the Chaos and Ork forces heading straight for each other. Seeing a great opportunity to kill two bugs with one stone, he moved a few of his men to the Imperial cruiser Just Vengeance in order to arrange an orbital bombardment. When the Chaos and Ork forces joined battle, they would bombard them from space, killing as many of them as possible.


Dark Plans

Master Gabriel of the Dark Angels heard of the Salamanders plans while a thunderhawk was already transporting the Salamanders to the Just Vengeance. He quickly convened a meeting with his senior officers, because he had to stop them. Shortly after the Iron Warriors had landed on Braxxis, Gabriel had started a search in his own database to identify the enemy ships. The Chaos cruiser Forge of Torture was identified, and linked to a number of top-secret files. The Forge of Torture had, two centuries ago, been the baseship of one of the fallen, and this fallen had been captured and given absolution. This fallen had served under lieutenant Claw along with one other fallen, and this other fallen, named Garael, was still at large.

Gabriel needed to capture Claw in order to extract from him any information regarding this Garael, and he knew almost for certain that lieutenant Claw had rejoined the Iron Warriors force heading south. He had to stop the Salamanders from bombarding the planet, because there was a great risk that Claw would be killed in the bombardement. He could not ask the Salamanders to stop the bombardement, because they would ask questions that he could not answer to them. So instead, he sent an elite force to the Just Vengeance, saying it was in the spirit of cooperation. But the Dark Angels were under strict orders to stop the bombardement at any cost, even if it meant attacking the Salamanders.

[Caladai Doomblade]

Chapter 3

The Eldar move into the Daikir mountain range, where a Braxxin Stormguard ambush in lying in wait for them. Meanwhile, the Orks of Klan Krusha clash with the Iron Warriors in Kun Sai, each wanting crush the other and continue their advance. In orbit the Dark Angels have gone on board the Just Vengeance in an attempt to stop their brother marines from the Salamanders chapter bombarding the Chaos forces and potentially killing a lead to the fallen.