Battle Of The Spires - Dirkden Hivesprawl

Points: 1000.

Mission: Death And Zeal.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Engage On All Fronts and No Prisoners.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Herd The Prey and No Prisoners.

The battle of the spires was a minor engagement that took place during the defence if Dirkden. When reports of missing civilian workers, arbites and Astra Militarum patrols in the upper spires reached the ears of Arthurus, it was assumed to be the work of the Genestealer Cult active within the hive. Arthurus personally led a force into the spires to engage the xenos but found out that the enemy was none other the Drukhari seeking slaves. Thankfully for the space marines the spires proved easy to defend and the chapter hunkered down awaiting their foes return.

Over the course of days the two forces engaged in brief firefights which quickly developed into a stalemate. In an effort to break this deadlock, the Drukhari launched an offensive upon the space marines by dropping incubi in to contain them in close combat while aircraft strafed their positions. As part of this effort, the infamous Drazhar also took part.

Two squads of incubi led by Drazhar mounted a futile attack on the Rift Warden positions in the upper spires. Due to the superior skills of the space marines and some inflexible decision making, the incubui were all slain and Drazhar cast from the parapets - although unsubstantiated rumours suggest that he somehow survived. Over four successive waves of attack the Drukhari lost their entire force while losses to the Rift Wardens were negligable.