Defense of Avenweddon: Operation Stonewall

After suffering heavy losses on the eastern flank by Battle Group 525 the 4224th Imperial Guard army called a halt prior to the coming of winter. The Lord General wanted to ensure that all three Battle Groups would be able to make the final push into the peninsula in the spring and bring the Defense of Avenweddon to a close.  This would free up at least two of the Groups for further action within the sub-sector.  As to which of the Battle Groups would have to remain on Avenweddon for the cleansing no decision has yet been made.

During the winter months the Army used the time to regroup, rearm, resupply.  The order of business was primarily on regrouping and strengthening of the forward lines. Many of the Regiments in the army were drawn from planets within the sub-sector and therefor were reinforced without having to requisition further Imperial assets.

With the Army returned to a fighting capability, and supply lines secure the Lord General is making plans to restart the offensive. Intelligence reports that the enemy hardly could have reinforced in this time as the Navel* blockade reported no enemy ships in the sector.  Even if that is so, it will still be a rough slog forward as they no have no doubt dug themselves in deeper than ever before.  For the elements of BG82 this shouldn't be a problem as the right flank is more flat leading out to sea.  As for the other two Battle Groups...  Only time will tell.

* Yes that should be Naval as Siph points out below.  But well, I made the mistake I have to live with the mistake.  And besides I think it's funny. 

Operation Stonewall (Day 16) - Battle Report

Cpt.  Milford's first mistake, setting up his defensive live to close to the enemy.

The downfall of 14th Company, 313th DTR.  It began in the early evening on Friday the 13th. Three and half hours later, and I saw my entire army get chewed through as if it were nothing but Swiss cheese with extra holes.  I won't go into each and every gory detail but rather just highlight a few parts of the game. 

So I faced of against 1500 Pts of 'Nids in a Eternal War: Big Guns Never Tire mission using the Vanguard Strike deployment.  As you may have noticed, mistake one... Setting up right on the edge of the deployment zone.  IMHO this was really something I shouldn't have done.  It ensured that he was able to get way to close way to quick and gave me little time to hammer him at range.

The 19th Lancers trot up to form a mobile reserve.

The entire center of my defense falls apart in turn 2.

Turn one was rather uneventful. But at the end of turn two, I pulverized his Warlord, but somehow it was able to let out some sort of Psychic scream thing.  And of course while right in the middle of my formation.  In that one turn, I lost the following: 2 Exterminators, 2 Sentinels, 1 Infantry Squad, 80% of a PCS, 70% of a 2nd Infantry squad, and half of my cavalry...  I was doomed.

40 Something shots at my Avenger in one turn, and not a scratch...

After turning tail attempting to consolidate what was left of my army on the one Objective that I still had the 'Nid Swarm moved in getting ready for dinner. The one highlight of the game for me was the massive amount of fire that my Avenger took without suffering any damage. 

The Company and both Platoon Command squads rally on an Objective.

As you can see above, by the end of turn 5 there wasn't much left.  The Chimera had 1 HP, and only it's heavy Bolter left.  It's hard to tell in the pic but there's 4 different squads (what's left of them) sitting on the objective.

Lt. Albin and Sgt. Garry are all that's left.

The end of Turn 6, the pic above explains it all...
I lost 10 points to 4.  Completely wiped out my army except for one officer and a Sgt. and a chimera for them to ride home in.

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Battle Group 82, excerpt from the Daily AsAsRs*    

Capt. Milford  14th Company. 313th Drop Troop Regiment - For failure to uphold the standards set forth by BG82, the Imperial Tactica, and the Lord Emperor himself, let it be known that he will be reduced in Rank to "Recruit" and what is left of his remains shall be handed over to the Commissariat.  The Emperor will see to his soul. 

14th Company, 313 DTR - Awarded the Tripple Skull.** This award may be worn by all surviving members of the unit at the time of award. 

14th Company, 313 DTR - To be reconstituted using Guardsman from Battle Group Repo unit.  

Lt. Albin 2nd Platoon, 14th Company, 313 DTR - Advanced to the rank of Captain and assigned as the new 14th Company Commander.


*AsAsRs - Advancements, Announcements, and Reprimands

**Tripple Skull
This is unique in being a unit-level distinction awarded to units (the smallest of which must be Company size) which suffer the numerical equivalent of two-thirds their number in casualties 

ToE 313th DTR (Part 1)

Motto: Faug a Balac “Clear the way”

So here's the kickoff post for my a series of background posts.  The first couple will be covering the  "TO&E" of the different Regiments assigned to BG82, that should last 5-6 weeks if I can keep up on this. As you can see above the 313th is made up of roughly 3700 troopers, broken down into 7 "Regimental Combat Teams"  (what may be considered a modern day Battalion but without an supply/support company.)  Each RCT is comprised of 4 Companies, and the RCT itself is led by a Major and his Command Squad.

Directly attached to the Regiment are the Transportation Company, the only Company equipped with vehicles of any sort, and various support platoons to include the HQ staff.  Being a Drop Troop regiment the 313th is equipped with no self contained armor, but does have a few Chimeras formed around 1 Mechanized Platoon the rest are typically used by the Combat Team HQ's. Armor and artillery support is provided by the Battle Group, along with the coordination for Imperial Navy assets when the Regiment performs a Drop insertion.

* I know that this doesn't match 100% with what is in the Codex, but hell some of this stuff is older than our current codex. 

Defense of Avenweddon

Arial view of "East Ovis Orientalweide" prior to the Chaos Attacks.  Much of the city has already been destroyed by Chaos bombardments.

"We're still holding sir but it's not looking good. We've had to pull our forces out of the eastern part of the region.  The vile forces of Chaos are using some sort of heresy to block out the sun and wreck havoc on our instruments.  We can barely see the enemy, much less maneuver against him."  Col. Pallidar hoped that he was getting through to Battle Group command.  The atmospherics were only getting worse the closer the enemy came.

Turning away from the Vox, Marshal Argos could barely control his anger.  "Get me the senior representative from the AdMech and from the Ecclesiarchy.  One of them had better have a solution for this."  We need our sensor net we we're going to defeat these bastards.  "And get one of the Witches over here.  Maybe one of THEM can do something about this, if the others can't."  The battle had started early, but everything started out as planned.

Last view from Camera 34.259, before city goes black.

But somehow the sun never came up, shuddering Argos tried to push the thoughts from his mind.  "Marshal Argos, what is it that I may do for you?" Squeaked the Tech Magos as he came upon the battle plotter.

My Emperor, when will he get that speaker fixed, maybe someone needs to tell him.. thought Argos before replying.  "Well for one you can have someone check your voice box.  You're going to kill someone with that high pitched voice of yours.  And after that you can find a way to get our tactical sensor net back up and running.  Without it we're shooting in the dark.  I have 3 Regiments up there with untold PDF forces and they're all useless to me if they can't see the enemy or at least pass on targeting information for the artillery and Super Heavies."

Elements of the 7th Scansin move up with support from the 313th DTR.

"Sir, there's something going on." Shouted Sgt. Baker seconds before a bright light followed by a thunderous roar, knocked 3rd Squad and the Platoon HQ to the ground.  "They're behind us!!"  went up the cry all along the front.

 

Almost knocked to the ground Col. Pallidar quickly regains his senses when as realizes that the enemy is now behind them.   "Quickly men, defend the armor!"  He shouts, urging his command team and the troopers around him to get into a supporting position.  He knew already that it would be a lost fight, there was no way his troopers could stop the beasts falling upon them. They just need to slow them down long enough for the armor to pull out and Astartes to move up.

"Pick him up you fool, don't just stand there."  Yelled Lt. Albertson of the 7th Scansin.  "I don't give a damn if I'm not part of your Regiment, your Colonel needs your help!  And by the Emperor so long as I'm assigned to your Regiment as a Liaison you will do as I ordered!"   The fight hadn't lasted more than mere seconds before the entire squad was killed, thought Albertson.  Looking up at the medics carrying Col. Pallidar away, there was barely time to pull the Colonel out of there before those daemons charged right by us. Where were the Astartes?  Why didn't they move in to assist?

"Joe... Joe... JOE!!!!" screamed Private Smith, before giving up and just hitting him upside the head.  Ever since those tread heads moved up into a position behind them, they couldn't hear a damn thing.  Even the ringing has faded away to silence.

Last charge of Lt. Cropper

"Signals, relay the following:  All Imperial forces pull back to Objective line Delta.  I repeat, All Imperial forces pull back to Objective line Delta!"  He'd heard enough though, Argos sat back in his chair as his command tank began to move off.  This did not go as planned, but better to pull back now than to waste more material and men in lost cause.  The situation was not getting better, and without being to bring his big guns to bear it wasn't going to.  We need to find out what was causing the blackouts and comms issues.  We need to find a way to counter it. We can't let this happen again, or the planet may very well fall into the arch enemies hands.

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I was actually supposed to post this up a month ago, but never got around to finishing it.  Hope ya'll enjoyed the read. 

  

War of Avenweddon (Part 1)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
++++++PRIORITY:  High
++TRANSMITTED:  Col. Pallidar, Battle Group 82
++++++RECEIVED: Tribanus Relay Station 2
+++DESTINATION: Vallivar Sub-Sector Imperial Field HQ
+++++++++++REF:  DJS-5548-163
+++++++SUBJECT: War of Avenweddon
------------------------------------------------------------------------

My esteemed colleagues, it is with my deepest regret that I inform you that the forces of Chaos have gained a foot hold on the planet Avenweddon.  The Imperial forces under command of the Wolf Lord CLASSIFIED were unable to hold back the forces of chaos as their reinforcements arrived in the city.  The Space Marine forces, though successful in holding two of the critical battlefield locations were unable to respond in time to keep the traitors from over running Fox Co. 313th, and the supporting PDF forces.

Guard all lined up, (and no that's not me)

Although extremely successful in the opening phases of battle, the crushing numbers of reinforcements brought in turned the tide.  After Marshal Argos was wounded and evacuated from the field of battle, the coordinated attacks against the traitor force's began to fall apart.

Following the detailed plans of Marshal Argos, we have assumed a cordon of defense trapping the traitors in the fallen city.  The artillery assigned to the 73rd Armored and PDF have assumed a 24/7 bombardment of the city, with support from the Legio Astramann.

A more detailed report, along with supporting documents will be forwarded for review as soon as Marshal Argos returns to duty. 

i.O.  Colonel Pallidar
 (Commanding) BG-82

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