Berks Daily Pictslate - 2/9/2010

The Eldar Landscaping Service, Inc.

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Blood Angel Death Guard

by Apothecary Brother Astartus

This is my Blood Angel Death Guard. you will catch Captain's Sergeant and Chaplain in this unit.

Remember that when the Black Rage takes you it is not just the same new and young recruits it is from every unit. Honor guard, assault tactical, Captain, Chaplin, Sergeant. When the curse takes you it is better to die in the emperor's service.

10 models. 10 pts to the 2010 Painting Challenge.

Sorry if the photos are not that good I am learning how to photograph models. This is a whole other art form.

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Official Transcripts: Bein-Telu Landing

Official Transcripts: Bein-Telu Landing
Salamanders Chapter
2nd Company - Ver'Asa, Captain

record #000321548v
Reconnaissance Report
sce: Bro. Ver'Tok, Scout Squad An'ah

"Heavy traitor presence at proposed dropsite. Deployment artillery anchor delta, daemon engines at either flank, corrupted Vindicator tank at center. Infantry on ground bears markings of World Eaters and Iron Warriors legions. Figure at HQ believed to be either Chaos Lord Stavros or Angelus, confirmation requested. Formerly industrial area. Warp energies are at their most stable in weeks. Landing to be completed upon capture of four objectives along the edge of the sector.

Dropsite grade: alpha."

record #30009756a7

Trascript - Vox Transmission

sce: Sgt Nik'Lau, 2nd squad

"[static]... [background noise, rumbling, human male voice: "Move! Move!", gunfire, etc]... Second Squad has landed, we are in open ground on the enemy's right flank, First Squad Ra'Nel has disembarked, holding for Dreadnought Brother Hab'akuk to advance...

"Transport Control, Brother Hab'akuk has not arrived, repeat: Brother Hab'akuk is missing. Moving toward the objective."

++Collator's note: Brother Hab'akuk's drop pod was recovered several hours later in the surrounding countryside. Cause: Warp storm activity.

"[...] This is Nik'Lau, we have reached the woods on the enemy's right flank. First Squad Ra'Nel has been decimated, but the primary target daemon engine is destroyed. We need fire support to roll up the enemy's flank."

"[static} [response from Fah'ren, munitions:] Vanguard Squad being deployed west of your position. Confirm arrival."

"[...] [second voice on transmission, off-mic] Sir, do you see that? Fire in the sky!"

"[Nik'Lau, off-mic] Hand of Vulkan... Squad, heads down. [on mic] Kadai's Ignition, are you seeing this? There seems to be some sort of unholy Warp lightning concentrated on the west end of the field, seems to be tearing apart the traitor lines!"

++Collator's note: What follows on the recording is different in both timbre and quality and sounds as though it was edited in. Text seems to be in several languages at once and in several voices, but the Low Gothic segment sounds like: Give into the despair, rest in the mire and let your bones become one with the garden of the Grandfather...

"[...] Transport Control, Veteran Squad has not arrived. Please confirm status."

"Brother Nik'lau, this is Veteran Sgt He'Zarus. We have dropped in a wooded area several hundred yards north of your position. We are en route, continue to hold the objective."

"Not likely, sir. My squad is in heavy cover but that Vindicator is not giving an inch. If it could be demobilized we could make a run at the traitors holding the objective to the west, but we can't do it alone. [scream in background, great crashing sound as of falling trees] By Vulkan's hand... Brother Sergeant, get here as quick as you can! [off] Strike quickly, brothers! Strike for the Emperor! [static]"

[end of transmission]

record #615410000

Action report of Brother Sgt Ta'Roth, 1st Company

Bein-Telu Landing

Teleported in under fire. Conditions clear and stable. Facing incoming enemy transport. Quickly reviewed position of friendly units. First Squad ahead, nearly decimated. Second Squad beyond in trees, possessing first objective. Second Captain behind to west with armor support. Predator Vurious destroyed. Objective: support tactical units taking objectives.

Squad of traitor berzerkers disembarked from transport, transport motored toward us, stopped, and pivoted, creating an obstacle. Ordered squad to sidestep. Enemy sighted through cover. Fired storm bolters and assault cannon. No confirmed kills.

Artillery fire to north directed at clump of trees, believe to be position of Second Squad. Threat detected - enemy Dreadnought lumbering toward them. Moving toward trees.

Intercepted by belligerents. Ten of them, five of us. Like those odds.

Berzerkers armed with chain-axes, pistols. Charging into us. Two brothers down, the other three of us letting none escape. They fall before us.

Receive word that Vanguard Squad He'Zarus has arrived in the woods behind us to the east. Objective: wipe out the berzerkers and assist Second Squad.

Through smoke, able to see heavily armed enemy engine assaulting Second Squad. They are fighting with valor but can only last so long under so withering an assault.

In possession of one objective. While driving off enemy combatants, get word that Captain Ver'Asa has been badly wounded in a Warp-related accident. Must get him to safety for continued success of action. Withdraw with Vanguard Squad He'Zarus to the Kadai's Ignition.

Second Squad unable to be extracted. The Emperor knows their names.

[end of record]

+++

On the observation deck of the Kadai's Ignition, Ver'Asa sits alone in the pale starlight. He sees the faces of First and Second Squads, gone now. The burns of the Warp energy he willingly took into himself still smolder on his face and hands. His presence on the battlefield magnified the currents which contributed directly to their destruction.

What price success?

What price victory?

What price the soul of a Space Marine?

---

The story above is a battle repost submitted by Andy U between the Army of Ten Rings and Salamanders Second Company. It is part of the ongoing Pillars of Hatred campaign. To follow the story, click here.

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Berks Daily Pictslate - 2/8/2010

Lunch!

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The Rise

by Mark VH

A lone techpriest cautiously walked down a long, dark corridor, carefully scanning the bare, black walls for signs of collectable objects. Seeing none, he continued onward, where he met a fork in the path.

The techpriest was on a recently discovered world, barren of any forms of life. The planet was essentially one large desert, and he believed himself to be in the middle of nowhere. He had been sent to investigate a large pyramid like object that had sat in the distance of Camp 319, where the Cadian regiment he had temporarily been travelling with was staying. When he had arrived at the pyramid, the techpriest had to circle the whole structure three times over before he had any inkling of an idea as to where an entrance point may be, but eventually he found one hidden between two large columns that were on each of the four sides of the strange structure.

After two hours trying, the door was finally opened, and he had found himself facing down the long dark hallway he was currently at, slowly descending, until he had reached the spot where he was standing now, deciding whether to go left or right.

Glancing over his shoulder, and pausing to look down at a datacard he had in his hands, he sighed. Left it was.

This corridor was just as blank as the last. The walls were pitched black, only broken by small indents into the wall, forming unfamiliar patterns and dull, dusty gliffs. This corridor, however, was descending more quickly than the last.

Finally, after some bit more of walking, the techpriest came to yet another door. This one, however, was embossed with a golden glyph at the very top, with smaller ones just as ornate running down the left and right of the door. The techpriest hadn't the least idea of what they said, as he had never seen anything of the like. He gently pressed his hand onto the doors surface, and the priest jumped when it immediately fell down into a slit in the floor, faster than an eye could follow with a loud bang.

Recovering himself, the techpriest slowly strode into this new room, somehow even darker than the last. It was as if a black fog had fallen over him. He reached for his laspistol, and kept it handy, unholstering the weapon. He began to move a bit faster, and then, suddenly...

He was on the ground, on all fours. He had tripped over something, and it had made a dull thud when he did so. Groping for his laspistol, he found it, and held the weapon aloft as he turned up his head. With his limited range of night vision, he made out a figure that was taller than any man he had ever seen. The statue, as he assumed this is what it was, was standing completely erect, holding a mighty staff with a blade coming from each side at the top. His head was long and thin, and the sockets where eyes should be were dark. Long legs carried down, and led to thick calves and overlapping plates of metal for feet. Metal. This entire statue was metal.

Standing, the techpriest dusted himself off, and laid a hand on the thick, metallic chest. He raised his eyes to meet the statues.

Those sockets were no longer empty.

Quickly light built inside of them, growing into a fiery orange. The statue, or now, creature, raised its hand, and threw the techpriest back. With a loud crack, he landed on the floor, his arm broken. The statue took the staff in its hand and made a jerking motion. Suddenly, a large buzzing noise echoed across the room as a stand of green electricity wove its way between the two blades. The creature let out a hoarse cry in a foreign tongue. It sounded rough on the priest's ears, and he grimaced in pain.

In the darkness behind the tall, caped creature more bright orange eyes began to glow, the first creature leading a slow but steady mark of what seemed like thousands of sets of eyes. The others were armed with foreign looking rifles, that one by one buzzed and had the same green light lock into place where a barrel should be.

The techpriest panicked. He had no idea what he had uncovered. As the leader of them all advanced, it raised its staff above the priests head. Reaching instinctively, he shot his laspistol, but it bounced harmlessly off of the metal cage. The staff brought down on the screaming man's head, and he was silenced.

The Necron lord cried out in a strange, twisted mechanical language-

"Awaken and march, my Necrontyr brothers! March on the living! March on the dead! But most importantly, march on the deceiving gods of the stars! Revenge shall be ours!"

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Berks Daily Picslate - 2/7/2010

We must defend the temple of the Holy Dice!

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The Call of Chaos

Back at the basecamp of the Cadian 17th, Colonel Colwyn Dray walked around his bunker that night. The prefabricated structures were suitable for a quick deployment to all strike teams to set up a base of operations after making planet fall.

This was a disturbing scene. The inquisitor has gone rogue. Scouts have arrived reporting that two other Imperium forces had made planet fall as well, having responded to the request for aid from Bein-Telu. It was one big set up. The worst thing was that if an inquisitor could fall to the call of Chaos, what of the other "loyal" imperial forces?

Tactical reports indicated that a unit of Salamander Astartes warriors engaged in a conflict with a unit of Traitorous Chaos Marines. Also, a fairly newly sanctioned division of "Imperial" Tau were caught up in a conflict with more of their own race. The entire system has gone mad!

The evening passed in the Cadian encampment without much incident.

That is nothing other than the nightmares that plagued the Colonel that evening.

The scene in the Cadian encampment was one of unrest in the morning. Dark voices speaking from the shadows of his mind seemed to plague the determined Colonel Dray. Images of something, calling to him, reaching out to his emotions, begging him to come forth. What disturbed the Colonel more was that he knew he was not the only one receiving the dark messages.

Resist the temptation as he may have wanted to, he could not ignore the call. The largest reason for this was that Colonel Dray knew that the other factions would be all competing to be there first. He could not allow that. His resolve was strong. He would not give in, but he would not allow the others to partake of this madness either.

His decision made, he ordered his troops to organize a rapid entry strike team.

He called out to Lt. Balkan. "Yes, sir Colonel?"

"Lt. Balkan, we need to move fast, there is a situation to the south of here, about 100 Kilometers South, south east. I need a strike team to move quick and allow me to get forces there first. I want you to round up the rest of the division and be prepared to roll out within a few days notice."

The Lieutenant nodded, understanding the Colonel's reasoning. "I have heard it too..." the young officer admitted.

The Colonel looked him in the eyes, penetrating the young officer with his steely gaze. "Rest assured Lt. Balkan, reinforcements are arriving soon. Commissar Logos will be arriving within the next 24 hours with fresh troops. He will help you keep the troops in line. I must undertake this mission myself. After your failure against the Inquisitor's troops, I cannot rely upon you to undertake this task."

Lt. Balkan just lowered his head. He knew he had let his commander down.

Colonel Colwyn Dray continued, "Lt. James Gavin will be supporting me in the field, he will be leading his recon squad of stormtroopers. We need to move fast. What you can do now Lieutenant, is start outfitting some vehicles and organize squads 17 and 812 with ample support to make a fast move to the strike zone. We can't afford to delay. Move it!"

The young officer turned and clicked his heels, speeding off to follow his commander's orders.

Colonel Dray went back to his quarters to start suiting up for battle. He expected trouble. This entire plot smelled thick of traps. He picked up his comlink and called out to Lt. Gavin. "Col. Dray to Lt. Gavin."

The com sparked to life. "....Yes Colonel, Lt. Gavin here. Just got word from Lt. Balkan. What do you need sir?"

The Colonel spoke with all seriousness. "Lt. Gavin, this smells like a trap. Prepare your forces to move fast and expect an ambush....."

Lt. James "Jumpin' Jim" Gavin responded back: "...yes sir, I fully understand sir. Consider it done."

Colonel Dray sat back in his high back chair. As he gathered up his carapace armor to suit up. Sgts Morgan and Voyt arrived, the Colonel's personal body guards. They asked what equipment and personnel he needed for his command squad. The Colonel thought about this for a moment as he produced his bolt pistol and started to load the weapon.

This could be a long journey.......

---

The story above was submitted by Steel Thunder. It is part of the ongoing Pillars of Hatred campaign. To follow the story, click here. 

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