Battle of Sector 14 - Hesperous Prime

Power Level: 30.

Mission: Assassinate.

Agendas: Kingslayer.

While the Rift Wardens fought for survival in Sector 12 of Hesperous City, Librarian Ramirez was tasked with tracking down the Dark Angels command in the neighbouring sector. Taking a small contingent of marines with him, he hunted down the Dark Angels captain in the narrow confines of the city.

Ramirez' forces threaded their way through the ruined city from the west, while Aurthurus' forces fought the main battle way behind him.  Ramirez' forces encountered the Dark Angels forward fire base with ease and launched a sudden attack which initially took the enemy by surprise.

Unfortunately the battle was far too brief, as the two forces locked into combat in the sprawling alleyways. Within minutes, before they could even get close to the enemy captain, Ramirez had been slain and his battle brothers with him. The Rift Wardens had lost a hero for no gain in the war.

Battle for Sector 12 - Hesperous Prime

 

Power Level: 30.

Mission: Sweep and Clear.

Agendas: Reaper.

Following the previous betrayal by the Dark Angels, the Rift Wardens had fallen back to regroup and organise a counter attack. The initial plan was to perform a sweep and clear of the surrounding sectors to ensure that the enemy were contained away from the chapter's base camp. The detachment assigned to Sector 12 was the first to encounter the Dark Angel advance.

The engagement opened with the Dark Angels attacking from the cover of ruined habitat complexes, catching the Rift Wardens in a perfectly executed pincer attack. Reports came in that the enemy were attacking other scout patrols. 

By midday the battle for Sector 12 was largely static, with both forces hunkered down and trading bolter fire at a distance. The Dark Angels attack had made advances but they suffered heavy casualties doing so. Chapter Master Arthurus arrived to bolster his battle brothers and sent a team led by Librarian Ramirez forward to strike a blow against the Dark Angel command forces. Arthurus arrival helped but the Rift Wardens had taken severe causalities and Arthurus was forced reluctantly to withdraw his forces, leaving only a small group to cover their retreat.

The Dark Angels captain ordered his troops to pursue and destroy with extreme aggression. The Rift Wardens retreat was blocked by fallen masonry and they were forced to try and find other routes back to their command base. The Dark Angel pursuit was hampered by stiff resistance and heavy fire from the Rift Wardens honoured dreadnoughts, resulting in more casualties.

After heavy fighting the Dark Angels succeeded in pushing into assault range, causing the Rift Wardens lines to collapse and their left flank partially cut off from reinforcement. At the same point, further tactical squads arrived from Sector 13, enabling the Dark Angels to encircle the surviving Rift Wardens.

All but encircled and with no hope for victory, Arthurus gave the order to retreat. The Rift Wardens withdrawal was complicated by the sheer number of enemy marines in their path, and soon it turned into an organised rout. 

Purge The Heretics - Otek Hivesprawl

Points: 2000.

Mission: Retrieval Mission.

Secondary: Engage on All Fronts, Oaths of Moment and Slay The Warlord.

In response to their previous defeat, Arthurus issued orders to his battle brothers to attack the genestealer cult forces in a manoeuvre to outflank their vanguard and drive them back into the tunnels before further reinforcements could arrive. However, due to cult sabotage some companies were blocked from arriving in time. 

The battle began with an attack on a fortified stronghold of the cult leaders. The battle was swift and decisive but the Rift Wardens took severe casualties. Outrider squads intended to surround the enemy found their routes mined or blocked, and were forced to find other, more lengthy routes to get to their intended way points. A number of intercessor squads were lured away by the sudden arrival of cultists from storm drains and service hatches. These diversions soon forced the space marines to pull back

By the next morning, the Rift Wardens forces had been split up by the cult diversions and with further reinforcements, the chapter was at a severe disadvantage. Even so, Arthurus insisted that they continue the offensive. Even his lieutenants and captains could not sway him from this course of action.

Over the next two days, the Rift Wardens were able to secure forward territory for the Astra Militarum forces behind them but it cost the chapter dearly in manpower and equipment. A pyrrhic victory at best. 

Brother vs Brother - Iago

Points: 2000.

Mission: No Man's Land.

Secondary Objectives: Engage On All Fronts, Oaths of Moment and Secure No Man's Land.

Opponent's Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Engage On All Fronts, and Secure No Man's Land.

For several weeks the Rift Wardens have been fighting alongside their brothers, the Crimson Fists, against the greenskin menace occupying the Iago system. A hard fought engagement that finally saw the Emperor's finest seizure these vital worlds back from the enemy although at great cost. Unfortunately events took a downturn at the end of the crusade when the two chapters came to blows over the treatment of the surviving Imperial citizens.

The situation took a turn when the last surviving orks took refuge in an overpopulated settlement. Rather than use scouts and eliminators to remove the last remnants of the ork threat, the Rift Wardens charged in. They killed orks and Imperial citizens alike in their crusade to eradicate the greenskins. In retaliation for the slaughter, Pedro Kantor led his battle brothers against the Rift Wardens.

As the Rift Wardens scoured the area of their last battle for signs of any remaining orks, the Crimson Fists dropped an ambush upon them. Drop pods fell from the skies and stormtalons roared in across the wastelands. The Rift Wardens weathered a storm of bolter fire that halted their search. They held their ground and returned fire, enraged that their fellow battle brothers would turn on them.

The element of surprise worked in the Crimson Fist's favour ultimately and they were able to deal a fatal blow the Rift Wardens present. Word had reached the Rift Wardens command though and chapter master Arthurus vowed revenge upon Kantor!

Betrayal - Hesperous Prime

Power Level: 60.

Mission: Overrun.

Agendas: And They Shall Know No Fear and Recover Archeotech.

Responding to an Alpha Legion attack on the Imperial world of Hesperous Prime, the Rift Wardens find their brothers, the Dark Angels, engaged in the battle. Over the course of a month the two marine chapters cleanse the planet of traitor astartes. However, unknown to the Rift Wardens, their brothers had come to this Imperial world in search of the Fallen, several of whom were within the ranks of the Alpha Legion. Unwilling to allow that potential knowledge to leave with the Rift Wardens, the Dark Angels turn upon their brothers in a surprise attack.

The battle began with the Dark Angels company moving towards the Rift Wardens through the streets of the ruined city in which they had fought the Alpha Legions. Not expecting betrayal, the Rift Wardens paid little attention as they swept the ruins for any survivours.

Once within range, the Dark Angels captains ordered their brothers to open fire into the Rift Wardens. The plan being to pin the Rift Wardens down while then striking hard into their lines with aggressors and dreadnoughts. The Rift Wardens suffered casualties in the initial attack and in places were forced to fall back.

The Dark Angel assault successfully turned the Rift Warden's right flank. forcing the chapter to regroup near the entrance to a series of mine workings. By nightfall, the Rift Wardens had sustained a number of casualties but held their ground. Captain Andred ordered his assault units into the battle and their counter-attack forced back the Dark Angel momentum. 

The Dark Angels soon began to retreat following the counter-attack. Some of their brothers were unable to complete the fall back due to the presence of the Rift Wardens assault intercessors, who had overrun their positions. By nightfall, the Rift Wardens had turned the tables and broken through the Dark Angels lines. The chapter continued to fall back although they in turn took casualties as they rear-guarded the retreat.

At this point, the Rift Wardens consolidated their positions. There had been no communication from the Dark Angels during or after the engagement. Captain Andred vowed vengeance against the Dark Angels for this betrayal.

Battle of Sentinel Hive - Oteck Hivesprawl

Points: 1750.

Mission: Overrun.

Secondary: Assassinate, Engage on All Fronts and Oaths of Moment.

The Battle of Sentinel Hive was a major battle fought during the early days of the Vigilius Crusade, between the Rift Wardens and the growing Genestealer Cult. It occurred as the chapter marched into the Sentinel Hive district to bolster the defenders. After recent cult victories across the planet, the cult's leaders planned to conquer the whole hive while the Imperial forces were occupied with the Chaos invasion. The battle ended with a cult victory as the Rift Wardens were forced to retreat back into the wastelands. The cult looted the space marine dead for equipment which enabled them to further their cause in the Hivesprawl. The Rift Wardens regrouped and reported the increased xenos presence within the hive.

Battle of Arnmort Gate - Mortwald

Points: 2000.

Mission: Homebrew.

When further elements of Abaddon's forces arrived from the rift and made planetfall, a contingent moved to bolster their traitor brethren at Mortwald. Upon arrival, their warlord divided his forces. One third was assigned to attack the Astra Militarum defences further south, while he himself led the rest to converge on the Rift Wardens postions at Arnmort Gate.

Chapter master Arthurus planned to counter the traitor advance with a series of planned withdrawls, intended to trade some territory for the time needed for reinforcements to arrive to give him a decisive numerical advantage. However, this strategy failed as the reinforcements fell under attack themselves from cultists hidden deep within the labyrinthine streets of Mortwald.

The battle for Arnmort Gate was short but decisive for the traitor marines, who claimed territory freely given but inflicted heavy casualties on the Rift Wardens while doing so.

The Tables Turned - Vigilus Wastelands

Points: 1750.

Mission: Ambush.

Secondary Oaths of Moment, Psychic Ritual and Slay the Warlord.

The great rift pulsed with the arrival of Abbadon's forces, and hideous daemons of Chaos materialised across the wastelands of Vigilus. Chapter Master Arthurus of the Rift Wardens sought permission from Marneus Calgar to take the fight to these horrors. After all that was what the chapter had been created to do. Permission was given and Arthurus sought to entrap a marching force in an ambush of massed firepower and whirring chainswords. However, the chapter master of the Rift Wardens had not counted on the presence of the infamous Keiros Fateweaver being in the number, nor for the fact that the greater daemon of Tzeentch had forseen this very act.

Fateweaver's plan to turn the tables on the space marines began with a careful build up of amassed daemonic forces. Ultimately the daemon intended to push his forces forward towards the Imperial lines and cause as much devastation as possible while the Despoiler committed his forces to his own schemes. 

As Fateweaver had foreseen, the Rift Wardens maneuverered into set pincer positions ahead of the daemonic advance. He marched his forces into that line of fire before screeching into the dusty air. Immediately the daemons raced to the sides, assaulting the space marines who had been confident of their planned attack.

One flank of the Rift Wardens pincer was quickly decimated by waves of flamers and bloodletters. Many marines died but the rest proceeded to retreat into the desert drawing some of the daemons out with them, and away from the main space marine force. Taken by surprised an unprepared for such savagery, the Arthurus ordered a hasty retreat when even he could not fell the mighty Fateweaver. Their one victory was the defeat of the khornate hearld, Skulltaker, who was banished back into the Warp.

Fateweaver had won a tactical victory by defeating the space marines, but his forces had suffered such losses that they could do little more than be a nuisance to the Imperial forces scouring the deserts of Vigilus. A pyrrhic victory at best for both sides. 

Dirkden City Fight - Dirkden Hivesprawl

Points: 1500.

Mission: Abandoned City.

Secondary Objectives: Assassinate, Engage On All Fronts and Oaths of Moment.

The battle began in the early morning before sunrise when the Genestealer Cult detonated a series of explosives in the sewers and waste tunnels beneath the Imperial lines. This act of terrorism killed many thousands of guardsmen and dropped a number of tanks and artillery pieces into those fire filled tunnels. The Astra Militarum commanders sought permission to the withdraw but the Rift Wardens advised that retreat was cowardice and would only undermine the victories that the space marines had so far achieved in the Dirkeden Hivesprawl. Cultists began making probing attacks within a few hours of daybreak.

By mid-afternoon, the cult had suffered heavy casualties thanks to the Rift Wardens, and had only been successful in dislodging the Astra Militarum from some entrenched forward positions. Although outnumbered the Imperial forces had better weapons and a higher rate of fire. Both sides were committed to a tight city fight by early evening. By nightfall, the cult had suffered extreme losses while the Astra Militarum had not weathered their attacks surprisingly well. The failure of the xenos attacks bolstered the Imperial defenders morale.

The Genestealer Cult counter attack came during the midnight hour with the cult attacking the Astra Militarum left flank, quickly overrunning them and into the central lines. The cult captured territory that had been hard won by the space marines just days earlier. The cult moved it's heavy weapons forward but little return fire took place. The cult forces emerged from their hiding places and captured further territory from the Imperium. This final engagement saw the cult drive the Astra Militarum from their positions, forcing the Rift Wardens to perform a rear guard action to cover the retreat. The chapter was far from pleased and the company soon needed a new commander, one more agreeable to the chapter's efforts in the war.

The Battle of Mortem Pass - Kaelac's Bane

Points: 1500.

Mission: Vital Intelligence.

Secondary Objectives: Bring It Down, Engage On All Fronts and Oaths of Moment.

Chapter master Arthurus had assumed command of the Imperial forces fighting the Drukhari raiders in the frozen polar region. His force of marines and 250,000 soldiers of the Astra Militarum held a location known as Mortem Pass, which was an ice route between mining colonies and a local space port. The guardsmen fortified the pass and began trying to fill suspected weak points in the defences with as many bodies as possible. The Rift Wardens had lost a number of battle brothers in recent engagements, were forced to divide their remaining squads present between the two ends of the pass. 

The Drukhari forces, led by Drazhar, awaited reinforcements from the webway portals before launching his attack. Guarding the strategic Mortem Pass, the Rift Wardens had three companies with artillery in addition to their own companies. Three days after their fortified the pass, the Drukhari launched a two pronged attack, striking at both ends of the path simultaneously. This force was supported by raiders and ravagers, which swooped over the Imperial positions, dropping off kabalite warriors and incubi.

Several hours later as the sun began to rise over the distant horizon, the Drukhari attack faltered which allowed the Rift Wardens to organise a retreat towards the nearest Imperial firebase. Casualties were actually light on both sides effectively but the retreat allowed the Drukhari to consolidate more territory and cut supply lines.