The Fall of Faustus

Steadstrike about to face Faustus

Over the course of the weekend, and after a year of playing, I managed my first solo win against Lewis and his Canis Aureus! It was a hard fought victory but luck was on my side. The objective was to find a supply cache and I managed to sieze initiative as well as finding the cache on one of my objectives on the first turn.

From that point, the game switched to pure defense for me. Through a combination of good rolling and some tactics, I managed to pull off a win. I have a new found respect for Terminators, as well as Runic Armour, as the amount of shots they managed to survive was absolutely insane. I had 2 squads of Fire Warriors, 20 models in total, a Cadre Fireblade, a Riptide and a Coldstar commander, all focusing their fire on one model, Vlees, who managed to survive 2 full turns of shooting!

Overall the game was incredible and for my first real win, I couldn't have asked for it to be any better! Some fluff from the battle follows the photos.

Sun Shark flying low over Noise Marines and Terminators

Despite all that firepower, Vlees survived!

Fire Warriors preparing their barrage

The Fall of Faustus

Steadstrike couldn't help but blame himself. The needless death of so many warriors at the hands of the Death Guard made his blood boil. Calming his nerves, he received a message informing him of a supply cache on a nearby desolate world. "A good way to de-stress I suppose.." However the message was not without warning. The Canis Aureus had been spotted in the sector and were closing in fast.

  

With no time wasted, the Firestorm Cadre found themselves touching down in the nick of time, with the Aureus not far behind them. As luck would have it, the supply cache was on their end of the battlefield. All they had to do was hold it. Then Steadstrike saw him. The one who had humiliated him time and again. Faustus. Holding back his anger, he delayed his strike until the optimum moment, eager to live up to his own moniker.

  

Deploying quickly, he found the old sorcerer was just as fast as ever. But Steadstrike was ready. Despite having his suit partly torn open, he lashed back and managed a quick retreat from the charging man. Taking a slow and steady aim, he raised his burst cannon and closed his eyes, squeezing the trigger. When he opened them, there was barely anything of the man he once faced.

  

The battle was not over however. The Crisis team had been held up in combat with Danor, another potent psyker of the Aureus. Rushing over, he commanded all his forces focus fire on an advancing Terminator squad. Eventually the pulse fire found weakness in the armour and downed the two foes, just for another to come walking forwards. Yet this one was different. No matter how much firepower was sent his way, the rounds glanced off his armour, some even seemed to bend around him. His advance was only halted when Danor fell. Steadstrike knew it was futile to push the victory they'd earned and ordered his Cadre to pull out. The supplies had been claimed and the battle was won. An old enemy had been removed, only to be replaced by another.

 

"Vlees.. Well done.", Steadstrike shouted over to him as they boarded the Manta.