The Siege of Hell's Point - Pariah Nexus

Points: 2000.

Mission: Conversion.

Secondary Objectives: Assassination, Engage On All Fronts and Warp Ritual.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Behind Enemy Lines, Retrieve Battlefield Data and Treasures of Aeons.

The Rift Wardens attacked a Necron defensive position, leading a vanguard strike. The objectives of the attack were several fortifications. The attack was made by four hundred battle brothers in the early hours using the long night to cover their approach. Desolator missile fire then created a creeping barrage and the battle brothers advanced up close behind it, leaving them only a short distance to cross when the barrage lifted. Most of the objective was captured and the Necron defence south of the fortificiations was put under great strain. Unfortunately the chapter had suffered a great number of casualties and were unable to push further.

Operation Annihilation: Battle For Orks Drift - Vigilus Wastelands

 

Points: 2000.

Mission: Data-Scry Salvage.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Shock Tactics and Warp Ritual

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Engage On All Fronts, Get Da Good Bitz and Grind Them Down.

The Battle of Orks Drift lasted nearly six months with the Imperial assault throwing everything into the scrap cities of the Orks. The attack was made by five regiments of Astra Militarum supported by the Rift Wardens and Ultramarines. The Ork defence mostly collapsed and the space marines had a "complete success" in their frequent vanguard strikes. On the south side of the battle zone, the Ork defence was made incapable of resisting another attack and a substantial retreat began. The greenskins fell back into the heart of the scrap cities. However, to the north, the Ork defenders commanded the high ground and inflicted a huge defeat on the Rift Wardens, who took an unprecedented number of casualties.

Operation Annihilation: Battle of Gork's Landing - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 1000.

Mission: Cleanse The Land.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Oaths Of Moment and Shock Tactics. 

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Engage On All Fronts, No Prisoners and Stomp Em Good.

The battle of Gork's Landing was the first two weeks of the Imperial offensive known as Operation Annhiliation, The Imperial forces launched an artillery bombardment and the Rift Wardens attacked from the south. The space marines inflicted a considerable defeat upon the greenskins while the Dark Angels to the north suffered a significant disaster, while the Astra Militarim regiments suffered over half a million casualties. Against Imperial commands wishes, the Dark Angels abandoned the northern offensive to reinforce the Rift Wardens in their successes to the south, where they pressed forward into the Ork lines. Despite the initial failures of the Imperial attack, the Rift Warden offensive turned the tables.

Operation Annihilation - Vigilus Wasteland

Points: 1000.

Mission: Reconnaissance Mission.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Engage On All Fronts and Oaths Of Moments. 

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Behind Enemy Lines, Get Da Good Bitz and Grind Them Down.

Operation Annihilation was the beginning of the second Imperial campaign against the Ork scrap cities. The campaign was largely made up of Astra Miliatarum regiments, Mchanicus maniples, several space marine chapters and several knightly households. The first objective of the attack was to capture the outer defensive ring. The Rift Wardens were the vanguard of an assault from the south.

 The Ork defence to the south mostly collapsed and the Rift Wardens had complete success as did the Ultramarines and Dark Angels on the west and northern fronts. The Ultramarines reached all their objectives, while the Dark Angels suffered heavy casualties during the attack. The Astra Militarum then captured the earthwork fortifications to the west, failed to the north and only had a temporary success when backing up the Rift Wardens, where the Orks were overrun.

Ork counter-attacks during the recaptured most of the lost ground while more Imperial attacks were costly failures. To the north the attack was a disaster, with a large number of Dark Angels casualties. The Rift Warden attack was also costly, with only a partial advance. The Ork defeats against the Ultramarines were incapable of resisting another attack. 

Danse Macabre - Bellaraphon

Points: 1000.

Mission: Deliverance.

Secondary Objectives: Bolster Barricades, Bring It Down and Grind Them Down. 

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: A Deadly Performance, Retrieve Battlefield Data and Take Your Places.

In response to appeals for help from captain Andred, Arthurus organised a company of battle brothers to assist Andred in launching a counter-attack against the Harlequins. Arththurus moved to a northern flank, while Andred's squads continued to maintain pressure against any of the alien raiding parties.

For the next two days, the Harlequins advanced upon the space marine positions, forcing many squads to retreat under heavy shuriken fire. The aliens forced the space marines to commit their reserves and left few areas where the battle brothers could aid one another. On the fourth day of the battle, the Rift Wardens began to bolster the forest around their lines although frequent casualties left the space marines a shadow of their former numbers. Andred prepared a counter-attack by the Harlequins were ready and the front lines remained unchanged.

The Harlequins moved westward and tried to encircle the space marines to the south, and by day four they were assaulting the Rift Warden defences and inflicting heavy casualties. After nearly two weeks the Harlequins were pushing the space marines out of the forests and back into territory controlled by the Mechanicus. Once on the borders of their territory, the Rift Wardens bolstered and held their ground.

The Harlequins had captured several locations within the forest and it soon became aware to space marine command that the enemy was driving them back in order to secure specific locations although it was not known why.

After a month of rearming and reinforcing their numbers from the orbiting fleet, Andred led a counter-attack concentrating their efforts towards the nearest location held by the enemy. After three days of heavy fighting, little had changed in the position of the front line.

Fort Arctos - Kaelac's Bane

Points: 1500.

Mission: Conversion.

Secondary Objectives: Codex Warfare, Engage On All Fronts and No Prisoners.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Behind Enemy Lines, Scout The Enemy and Scry Futures.

With Captain Oberon and his force stuck in Fort Arctos following a retreat from the webway war zone, the Aeldari command used the opportunity to hurriedly reinforce their numbers around the fort - bringing in several wraith constructs and a wraithknight. By this time Oberon's force was reduced down to around 40 battle brothers.

When the Aeldari assaulted the fort, they breached the walls with ease and the space marines fell back to the center of the fort and prepared to defend the fort with their lives.

After two days of consecutive assaults the Rift Wardens numbers had been halved. Four separate waves of attack were repulsed with heavy casualties. In some places the Aeldari reached the space marine positions before being forced back by massed bolter fire. The attacks stopped in the early hours after four days, having failed to defeat the space marines. Even so, Oberon finally had to withdraw his forces due to the towering wraithknights, giving up the territory to the alien attackers.

Operation Scimitar - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 2000.

Mission: Recover The Relics.

Secondary Objectives: Engage On All Fronts, Oaths Of Moment and Raise The Banners High. 

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Adorn The Canvas Eclectic, Engage On All Fronts and Retrieve Battlefield Data.

Operation Scimitar was a long range pre-emptive operation by the Rift Wardens against a force of Emperor's Children who had occupied a vital water source in the depths of the wastelands.

The water source was located in the deserts south of Mortwald Hivesprawl along a well used supply route. The raid was carried out by a company of Rift Wardens led by Captain Lorgraine, supported by small outrider squads and a single repulsor executioner. Although the Rift Wardens had fought on Vigilus for a couple of years at this point, this would be one of the most significant victories the chapter had managed to this point.

The raid was a complete success for the Rift Wardens. For the cost of only a handful of battle brothers and the outriders, the chapter slew the chaos marines to a man and returned the water source to Imperial control.

Battle In The Dunes - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 2000.

Mission: Secure Missing Artefacts.

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

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Engage On All Fronts, Get Da Good Bitz and Grind Them Down.

After the Rift Wardens recent engagement with the Orkish speed waaagh outside the walls of Dontoria Hivesprawl, Captain Oberon was tasked with reorganising the defences north of the city in the anticipation of another assault. A number of squads were drawn from other positions, abandoning those and moved to bolster the new defence works. The new position was a series of tightly packed dunes covered with hardy brush, which became thicker the further in the marines went. The surrounding plains provided no cover, meaning the attacking ork force would be subjected to murderous fire from the Rift Wardens.

Oberon ordered his battle brothers into a frontal assault as the orks advanced towards their position. It was impossible for any flanking actions due to the openness of the terrain. Intercessor squads were sent into the attack - holding the left and right flanks - with hellblasters held in reserve. The force was supported by a repulsor executioner which blasted the ork positions from a far distance. Before they could reach the Rift Warden positions, the orks were forced back by bolter rifle, heavy bolter and some artillery fire. However, this did not stop the greenskins from continuing the attack and they soon swiftly advanced upon the space marine positions.

By late afternoon, more and more orks supported by battle wagons and giant walkers arrived from the wastelands. With the arrival of such weapons of war, the orks let out a battle cry and charged. The orks failed again to reach the space marine lines, suffering heavy casualties. A few isolated squads of boyz reached the dunes as night fell but were forced to retreat by Rift Warden counter-attacks. Despite further reinforcements, the orks were once more forced to withdraw. The greenskins then waited until night had fallen and sneakily attempted to use it to their advantage.

The third and final wave occurred once the sun had set and the desert wastes were lit only by the hellish light of the great rift, and straight away the orks suffered the same problems as earlier, only this time compounded by the lack of light. Eventually, with numbers on their side, the orks were able to force their way into the dunes and into the space marine positions. It was here that the advance stopped. In the darkness many orks had become lost and some fell back into the deserts to regroup. At the same time the ork heavy vehicles and walkers, who had become bogged down in the sands, rejoined the attack. Oberon and his forces held on to the dunes until dawn, when the events of battle and fearing heavy casualties, forced him to order a withdrawal back to Dontoria. 

Battle of Hindelgeist Docks - Dharrovar

Points: 1000.

Mission: Surge Of Faith.

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

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: By Lasgun And Bayonet, Boots On The Ground and Inflexible Command.

The battle of Hindelgeist Docks was fought during the Imperial campaign on Dharrovar, specifically the conquest of the hivesprawl of Hindelgeist. It was the last action between the Rift Wardens and the planetary defence forces before the PDF retreated from the docks district. The Rift Wardens and loyal Astra Militarum forces surrounded the enemy positions. The space marines inflicted heavy casualties and captured the docks with comparably little casualties. The PDF retreated from the docks into the interior of the hive sprawl.

Battle of Dendelgheist - Hesperous

Points: 1000.

Mission: Desperate Raid.

Secondary Objectives: Behind Enemy Lines, Codex Warfare and Raise The Banners High.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Behind Enemy Lines, Grind Them Down and Raise The Banners High.

The battle of Dendelgheist opened with the Rift Wardens launching a heavy missile barrage into the Dark Angel lines, devastating their forces. The chapter then attacked en mass although the Dark Angels stood their ground. The center of the line fell, and the Rift Wardens broke through, threatening to reach the enemy command bunker. The offensive overwhelmed the outnumbered Dark Angels.

Azrael hastily sent terminator reinforcements, and deployed the fifth company to engage the Rift Wardens in case they succeeded in pushing past the Dark Angel lines. The situation was critical, but the commitment of reserves and the the arrival of Azrael himself gradually improved the situation.

The Rift Wardens advanced further into Dendelgheist and the district fell to them within days. However, by this time the Rift Wardens were low on numbers and munitions, and had intermittent supply lines. The new Dark Angel defensive lines held and they repeatedly repelled the Rift Wardens. Soon they started a counter-offensive and slowly regained ground.

The War Of Nightmares part 1 - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 1000.

Mission: Reconnaissance Mission.

Secondary Objectives: No Prisoners, Psychic Interrogation and Shock Tactics.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Despoil Dominions, Engage On All Fronts and No Prisoners.

With Abaddon finally taking to the battle field, the Imperial forces swiftly mobilized to halt his attacks. The various space marine chapters available split into three detachments under the command of Marneus Calgar. The Rift Wardens, under Arthurus, crossed the wastelands to the Halos Redoubt. In the wastelands, things started to go wrong. Sandstorms swept up across the deserts and the various chapters became separated and many vehicles became bogged down in the sand.

The Rift Wardens reached their position before dawn. After consolidating their position, the chapter pushed forward to engage the lead Black Legion vanguard. It was reported back to Calgar that surprise had been achieved. However, despite achieving surprise, Arthurus ordered his chapter to wait until other chapters were position before launching a full assault. He even ordered his stormtalons to fall back and await the order.

By the time Arthurus allowed the attack to continue, all hope of surprise was lost. As his tanks began their preparatory assault, Arthurus ordered his forces to attack the Black Legion along the left flank, although these were  now fully alert to the Imperial positions and manning a series of makeshift defences. By the time the main battle had started, over eight chapters had entered the engagement at this time.

Despite their missed opportunities, the fresh reinforcements, and entrenched Black Legions, by late in the day, the Rift Wardens were on the verge of a breakthrough. The chapter captured two lines of trenches but with no reinforcements to exploit this success they could do nothing but hold their gains. The Black Legion forces counter-attacked led by Abaddon himself, forcing the Rift Wardens to fall back in the evening. 

By the end of the first day the chapter had sustained a great number of casualties. The Rift Wardens were forced to fall back to a rendezvous position several miles back. 

Void War - The Core

Points: 1000.

Mission: Display Of Spiritual Might.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Oaths Of Moment and Warp Ritual.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Lay Claim, No Prisoners and Retrieve Battlefield Data..

A week after the Rift Wardens first attacked the Leagues asteroid defenses they finally reached their initial objectives. The Leagues heavy weapons were still very operational and inflicted many casualties among the advancing space marines. Any tanks and incoming aircraft were subjected to continued artillery fire from the League forces, which left the Rift Wardens to bolster around their recent gains. The Rift Wardens' attacks changed from large operations on broad fronts, to narrow focused attacks with more limited objectives.

The Rift Wardens did succeed in capturing a single forward fire base from the Leagues. After a bombardment from the fleet, the chapter attacked another two fire bases and these too fell to the Imperial forces. Arthurus ordered a pause in the attack, to consolidate the captured ground and await a further bombardment from the fleet. Two days later, the Rift Wardens attacked the next fortress line of the enemy but were met by mass artillery fire from the League land crawlers, which effectively ended the space marine advance.

Wrath of the Aeldari - Kaelac's Bane

Points: 3000.

Mission: Field of Glory.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, No Prisoners and Shock Tactics.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: No Prisoners, Raise The Banners High and Scry Futures.

Before the latest offensive, Arthurus had expected the Iyanden artillery tanks would be suppressed by counter-battery fire but this failed. The chapter master of the Rift Wardens set up specialist artillery forces to counter the prism cannons arrayed against them. This failed due to swiftly mounting space marine casualties. Arthurus' captains requested more units to contain the enemy arriving from the webway but Arthurus refused, because those forces were needed elsewhere across Vigilus. A pause in the Rift Warden attack led to the Aeldari receiving more and more wraithguard reinforcements.

The forces of Iyanden marched forward into the Rift Warden lines, led by wraithguard and supported by a powerful wraithknight. The space marines present put up a heroic defence and although they did inflict many casualties and destroyed a number of wraith units, they were unable to halt the Aeldari advance out of the icy wastes into the deserts of Vigilus. Arthurus ordered his battle brothers back and communicated to the Imperial command that Kaelac's Bane was most assuridly lost to the Imperium at this time.

Real Space Raiders - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 2000.

Mission: Death And Zeal.

Secondary Objectives: Codex Warfare, No Prisoners and Warp Ritual.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Assassination, Engage On All Fronts and No Prisoners.

Drukhari raiders began to pour out of the icy wastes of Kaelec's Bane, assaulting the various combatant's across Vigilus. When they descended upon a patrol of Rift Wardens battle quickly ensued.

The Rift Wardens reacted quickly and charged into the oncoming Drukhari, gaining some little ground. Recent sandstorms and the arrival of further Drukhari reinforcements made the situation very difficult for the space marines. The Rift Wardens were lacking any heavy weapons and their ability to handle the raiders and aircraft was severely lacking. Almost immediately the space marines took unexpectedly high losses.

For two days the enemy launched lighting fast attacks upon the space marines, seizing as many as they could and fading back into the desert. The chapter fought a running battle as they sought to reach Imperial lines before being picked off by the alien slavers. When they reached range of the hive city defences, the Drukhari peeled off and vanished back into the desert. Many space marines had been lost to injury or capture.

Operation Judgement - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 2000.

Mission: Secure Missing Artefacts.

Secondary Objectives: Well Prisoners, Raise The Banners High and Warp Ritual.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Assassination, Pile The Skulls and The Blood God's Due.

Operation Judgement was an Imperial effort to halt the World Eater advance upon the Vigilus hive sprawls. Initially both sides were hampered by vast sand storms which raged across the wastelands, forcing even the servants of the Blood God to hunker down. As soon as the storms died down the Astra Militarum initiated a vast ten hour artillery bombardment upon the advancing enemy marines. The main concentration of fire was on the right flank. Daemon engines returned fire but the World Eaters had suffered severe casualties.  

The bombardment let up as the morning passed into afternoon. This was a ruse to tempt the berzerkers forward into an open kill zone in front of the Imperial lines. Imperial navy aircraft overflew the battlefield and reported the locations of the enemy lines. Guardsmen advanced ahead to cut down the World Eaters with flamers and heavy weapons. Although initially successful the berzerkers soon began to overrun them and continued their advance.

After two days of fighting, the Imperial defenders had moved forward and they captured several vital locations. Two companies of berzerkers which held those locations were defeated thanks to assaults by the Rift Wardens. By this time, the World Eaters had entered into a frenzy and any military cohesion faded. Even so, the enemy forces repulsed several space marine attacks but each effort was defeated by the Imperial forces.

Fighting continued until the Rift Wardens outflanked the World Eaters although they suffered many casualties. Although their attack was blunted, the World Eaters managed to hold onto their gains. Rift Wardens attacks continued for two days and the World Eaters were eventually pushed back into the wastelands. Arthurus arrived from orbit at this time and led his battle brothers forward. He had received orders from Marneus Calgar to ensure that the enemy didn't reach the hive cities to bolster those forces already within the city walls.

After five days the Astra Militarum regiments were ordered to advance from their defences and marched forward as a vast line of bodies. Due to the rough terrain some regiments advanced ahead without support on their flank. The guardsmen rushed the World Eater positions with support of various space marine chapters. The Imperium killed hundreds of the enemy and even outflanked a few of their defences. It was at this point that Kharn the Betrayer entered the fray with a large force of Eight-Bound. Some guardsmen took cover in a ravine only to find their location under friendly artillery fire. Some guardsmen were forced forward into the enemy lines to avoid being accidently killed by their own tanks.

The Rift Wardens marines tried to contact the Militarum artillery commanders to alert them but communications were disrupted. Enemy fire soon stopped as Kharn bellowed a charge and led his forces forward once more. The Imperial forces were brutally slaughtered and forced to fall back, leaving the space marines to blunt the charge. 

After five days of heavy fighting, Operation Judgement had been partially successful but at the great cost of hundreds of thousands of guardsmen lives. A pyrrhic victory at best.

Wrath of Be'lakor - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 2000.

Mission: Death And Zeal.

Secondary Objectives: Abhor The Witch, No Prisoners and Shock Tactics.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: No Prisoners, Psychic Interrogation and Raise The Banners High.

The daemonic assault began in the early hours with a surprise bombardment as soul grinders materialised from the Warp. However, this bombardment largely fell short of it's target or failed to inflict many casualties as the Rift Wardens were heavily entrenched awaiting an oncoming Black Legion attack. The failed bombardment alerted the Rift Wardens to the coming attack withut disrupting their ability to oppose it. Shortly their after, Be'lakor and his legions manifested from the Warp and attacked.

Arthurus deployed his forces with a number of veterans in gravis armour, holding the left and right flanks. They deployed in a lose skirmish formation. One flank succeed in smashing into the daemon lines but were stopped and then forced to withdraw after suffering casualties from the daemon prince himself, As they fell back to their lines, they were outflanked and attacked by more daemons bursting forth into reality. With their flanks collapsing, Arthurus ordered a fighting withdrawl although they were hounded all the way back to the main Imperial lines.

Battle of KastleHall - Antares

Points: 2000.

Mission: Conversion.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, No Prisoners and Raise The Banners High.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Behind Enemy Lines, Grind Them Down and Raise The Banners High.

The battle of KastleHall was the besieging of the Rift Wardens garrison at a small fortress south of the immense Antares Majoris hive sprawl. Over 600 of the space marines were garrisoned there. When the Custodes attacked in force with knightly allies they managed to breach the walls with ease and laid waste to many battle brothers. In the records of the Rift Wardens it goes down as the worst defeat of the chapter to date. 

Strangely, at the behest of the Emissaries Imperatus, all captured Rift Wardens were returned to the chapter unharmed but bearing the message that this world was no longer theirs. Arthurus railed at this warning understanding where it had come from but his drive and ego prevented him from accepting those worlds. The fighting continued.

Battle of Promethium Refinery 426 - Hesperous Prime

Points: 1000.

Mission: Surge Of Faith.

Secondary Objectives: Oaths Of Moment, Raise The Banners High and Shock Tactics.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Engage On All Fronts, Grind Them Down and Raise The Banners High.

The battle of Promethium Refinery 426 was a small engagement fought by between the Rift Wardens and the Dark Angels. The Rift Warden force was made up mainly of intercessors, aggressors and dreadnoughts. They had had some success against the Dark Angels in earlier engagements which was why they were dispatched to capture the refinery. The Dark Angels force was primarily Deathwing led by Azrael himself.

The primary reason for this battle was to capture the refinery as both chapters needed promethium to fuel their tanks. The Rift Wardens got their first and bolstered the defences around the site. They then fought off a series of small Dark Angel patrols. Eventually after a string of losses, the Deathwing were deployed by teleport assault into the Rift Warden defences, where after a brief firefight, the Dark Angels seized control of the refinery.

Battle of Desolation Valley - Talos

Power Level: 1000.

Mission: Rise Of The Machine Spirit.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Grind Them Down and Shock Tactics.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: No Prisoners, Raise The Banners High and Warp Ritual.

The Tyranids had overrun an Imperial landing zone designated Desolation Valley. The organisms did not initially advance on towards the Imperial lines, instead focusing on feeding upon the dead. When they did finally launch an assault on the Imperial lines with the support of mighty biovores - living artillery pieces. Due to the thick spore fog, the Tyranids were able to surprise the defenders. During the conflict they Tyranids were forced back but they continued to launch multiple assaults. The Rift Wardens were able to hold off the attack by pouring massed bolter fire into the oncoming bio-organisms but ammunition supplies were beginning to run low. By that evening, during a powerful thunderstorm, a final attack was made. Tyranid warriors breached the lines and engaged the Rift Wardens at close quarters. Both sides sustained heavy casualties. Eventually the Imperial losses became too high and they fell back once again.

The Speedwaagh! - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 1000.

Mission: Ascension.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, No Prisoners and Shock Tactics.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Get Da Good Bitz, Psychic Interrogation and Stomp 'Em Good.

Out in the wastelands a force of speed freaks mounted a reconnaissance raid into the lines of the Imperial defenders near to Dontoria Hivesprawl. A Rift Wardens patrol of 400 battle brothers attacked the oncoming buggies and bikes from three different positions. The marines inflicted significant casualties and forced the Orks to retreat slightly. 

The Rift Wardens followed up their ambush and attacked the Orks again. All night long, the Orks fought hard and fast, using their bikes and buggies to great advantage against the footslogging space marines. With speed and ferocity on their side, the tide of battle turned in the greenskins favour. 

The Ork warboss led a counter-attack as the sun rose. The Orks charged as fast as they could, blasting everything in front of them. The speedwaagh split into three points, slamming into the Rift Wardens. The space marines suffered many casualties and were forced to fall back to the Imperial lines with many cut down as they did so. The Orks hit the Imperial lines, punching a hole in the lines. Many stayed to fight the defending Astra Militarum, but more surged forth to reach the good fighting within the city walls.