Various electronic sounds and lights clashed in the apothecarium of the strike cruiser Blodeuwedd as Captain Rhys Glyndwr was tended to by various apothecaries and chapter serfs.  Various members of the strike force's command were also present to check on the condition of their commander as well as give their reports as necessary.  Part of the Captain's armor has been removed, the breastplate with a massive rend running down one side lay off discarded for now in the corner of the room.  A serf works on cleaning the relic blade while an apothecary seeks to cleanse the toxins from his commander's daemon caused wound.
Captain Glyndwr raised up slightly and turned toward his gathered staff, and said with a deep rumbling voice.  "Give your reports."  A techmarine steps forth, glancing at his pad, "Ironclad Gilrain was horrendously damaged.  It will be months before he might even considerably be ready for any sort of deployment.  We will need to evaluate his mental state now as well.  Glanhir suffered minor damage as did the Storm Talon.  The thunderfire cannon you deployed with is a total write off."  Next Veteran Sergeant Blydden spoke up.  "My squad took only three casualties, though one will return to duty in a week or so.  Tactical Squad Breithal took a number of injuries as well.  Tactical Squad Gwionyn, Sternguard Squad Ealdredd, and Assault Squad Valerius were all but wiped out.  No one from those squads escaped without injury and only a handful will return to service.  Scout Squad Osric accounted well of itself, assisting with the destruction of the enemy bikers as well as an enemy squad in addition to securing their assigned objective.  Only three remained unwounded at the end of the combat, but while Sgt Osric was slain, four of the scouts were merely injured and will return to duty."
Captain Glyndwr winces at the toll paid but answers in a steady voice of iron, "Elevate the three to full battle brother status on our return to Cymru.  The other four we'll review for promotion on the journey home.  And of our enemies?"  "There is no trace of any survivors still on the world my Lord," replies Captain Mallory.  "All remains have been purged or turned over to our librarians for proper containment.  The remnants of the defiled Vindicator and Land Raider have been purified of taint before being utterly destroyed.  We found a number of Kharn's berzerkers from his retinue piled up among the dead, but there is no trace of Kharn himself, though we know that Glanhir dealt him a serious wound."
"And of the daemon prince that dealt me this wound?" asked Captain Glyndwr.  He was hurt when he struck you down Lord, but the Stormtalon caught him unawares and grievously injured him, driving him back into the warp.  The pilot and techmarines have named the vehicle Glynu Awyr, or Sky Cleaver, for the feat.  We did not find any mention in our records or any immediately available to us that identified the daemon though.  His obvious devotion to Khorne and his personal iconography that we noted will hopefully help us identify him in case of future meetings against him.  We did recover his fallen axe and it has been placed in a stasis field until it can be properly stored at Llew Gyr."
"Then the world was saved and while losses were heavy, all did their duty and prevailed.  Let the chaplains begin their litanies of readiness and preparation while we see to our wounded and dead.  We will be prepared for I do not foresee the Black Legion or their Khornate allies giving up that easily.  We will meet them on the field of battle again I think."

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Well, that was a very very fun game with lots of exciting points.  While we were both quite rusty with the rules (there was much flipping in the books the entire game) and some things were forgotten by both of us, it went well and was quite enjoyable.  The Lions have a memorable win for their archives and some stories to tell their battle brothers who did not get to participate in the battle.  The rest of this blog post will contain the army lists and then in a couple or few days I'll have part two with the actual battle up so as to not make this post too long to read.

First up, we have my force of the Lions of Harlech, Strike Force Glyndwr at 2,000 points with 1 HQ, 4 Troops, 3 Elites, 3 Heavy Supports, and 2 Fast Attacks.  It was 74 models total, all of which were painted which is something I was glad I was able to pull off.  Now down to the brass tacks.
Captain Rhys Glyndwr, 4th Company (the Lion's Claws) Commander
     Artificer Armor, Relic Blade, Storm Shield

Tactical Squad Bleddyn
     Sgt Bleddyn, 9 Marines, Missile Launcher, Flamer

Tactical Squad Gwionyn
     Sgt Gwionyn, 9 Marines, Missile Launcher, Flamer, Combi-plasma

Tactical Squad Breithal
     Sgt Breithal, 9 Marines, Missile Launcher, Flamer, Combi-plasma

Scout Squad Osric
    Sgt Osric, 9 Scouts, Bolt Guns, Camo-cloaks

Sternguard Veteran Squad Ealdredd
    Veteran Sgt Ealdredd, 9 Sternguard Veterans, Drop Pod

Assault Squad Valerius
    Sgt Valerius, 4 Assault Marines, 3 Plasma Pistols

Devastator Squad Bretheil
     Sgt Bretheil, 4 Devastator Marines, 4 Missile Lauchers

Devastator Squad Esgalion
     Sgt Esgalion, 4 Devastator Marines, 4 Missile Lauchers

Ironclad Dreadnought Gilrain
     Heavy Flamer, Meltagun, Drop Pod

Ironclad Dreadnought Glanhir
     Heavy Flamer, Meltagun, Drop Pod

Thunderfire Cannon, Techmarine Saellon

Skytalon Gunship
     Assault Cannon, Skyhammer Missile Launcher

And then Neverness' Black Legion forces of Khorne.
Kharn the Betrayer

Daemon Prince of Khorne, Axe of Blind Fury, Power Armor, Gift of Mutation, Ichor Blood

5 Chaos Terminators, Mark of Khorne
     Champion, Combi-bolter, Powerfist
     Combi-bolter, Power Axe
     Heavy Flamer, Powerfist
     Combi-melta, Chainfist
     Combi-flamer, Chainfist

Hellbrute, Multi-melta, Crazed

Black Legion Squad, Veterans of the Long War, Mark of Khorne
     Aspiring Champion, Combi-melta, Power Axe, Gift of Mutation, Krak Grenade
     9 Chaos Marines, Plasmagun, Krak Grenades

Black Legion Squad, Veterans of the Long War, Mark of Khorne
     Aspiring Champion, Gift of Mutation, Krak Grenades
     4 Chaos Marines, Krak Grenades

Khorne Berzerkers, Veterans of the Long War, Icon of Wrath, Mark of Khorne
     Berzerker Champion, Gift of Mutation, Chain Axe, Plasma Pistol, Melta Bomb
     12 Berzerkers, 2 Plasma Pistols, Krak Grenades

Chaos Bikers, Veterans of the Long War, Mark of Khorne
     Champion, Chain Axe, Gift of Mutation, Melta-bombs
     4 Bikers, Plasmagun, Meltagun

Landraider
     Destroyer Blades, Dirge Caster, Havoc Launcher, Warpfire Gargoyles

Vindicator
     Dirge Caster, Warpfire Gargoyles, Combi-bolter


Neverness took some hard hitting units, but the sheer number of bodies that I could bring to bear really helped me out.  It let me concentrate fire on just one or two units at a time while he had to completely ignore some of my units.  So that's the end of part one, stay tuned for part two, the actual turn by turn account of the fun later in the week.  See you all next time and thanks for reading.