Jornath: An Iridium Bulwark

.15 Months Since the Fall of Usmilplatz.

Ork forces following the Emerald Scream began ferocious counter-attacks, taking advantage of the lack of Imperial communications and coordination following the psychic signal. PDF militia assets put up a stalwart resistance where the cohorts could effectively mount a defense. 

In Korsnokrat to the southeast of Usamiljen, the 20th Pevrush Cheese Makers Guild had been totally obliterated as they attempted to delay one of the southernmost Ork thrusts. While the cohort had been overrun, their guns had provided a moments breath for the Skitarii maniples fleeing the frontline in disarray. This gave a few minutes for the handful of frontline Mechanicus field commanders to rally the routing maniples into some form of defense along the southern edge of Korsnokrat. 

Magos Marcello Fortis, rallied elements from the 4th, 10th, and 657th Skitarii Maniples, lacking access to the Prima Jama command network, it would be difficult to coordinate the skitarii in the traditional manner. Regardless, Marcello positioned his troops in the ruins of the Fatstall Lake habitation complex which rested on the southern edge of the cities outskirts. The housing complex was surrounded on two sides by fields of Appolon Reed, and was intersected by large industrial avenues, allowing the Mechanicus to take full advantage of their superiority at range. 

The Orks, lacking their heavier armor thanks to the actions of the 20th Peruvas Cheese Makers Guild, charged across open ground at Fortis' position. The Xenos' light armor and infantry were little match against the advanced weapons of the Mechanicus, but what they lacked in technological advantage or advanced armors the greenskin's more than made up for in numbers. Throngs of savage alien warriors sprinted through the housing complex, engaging the skitarii in savage close combat.  

At the end of the day, the habitation complex was covered in a thick haze of gunsmoke, blood, and corpses. Magos Fortis himself was struck down by a handful of the brutish alien barbarians. Only a handful of the Skitarii remained alive at the end of the day, but the sacrifice of the soldiers of the Mechanicus had not been in vain, the speartip of the Greenskins in Korsnokrat had been broken. While the city still needed to be secured, the teeth had been taken out of the southernmost Ork assault force and soon the Aquila would fly above the town once more. 

Thanks for reading!  This post was a part of an ongoing narrative campaign, in the "living setting" of Jornath. For more information about Jornath as a setting, including units, missions, and posts from other Jornath bloggers be sure to click on the Jornath [40k] tab at the top of this page for an up to date list of all posts.

-Your Favorite Madman-

Jornath: Recapturing Data-Tether Ignatius

.14 Months Since the Fall of Usmilplatz.

The Mechanicus launches its main thrust towards Usmilplatz from the south, with a diversionary task force striking from the west earlier in the same week to divert Ork warriors away from the main body's axis of advance. Reconnaissance units still present in the wilderness areas around the AO redouble their efforts and attack xenos artillery positions and communications outposts to confound the Ork's (already less than stellar) command and control capabilities. 

The Easternmost column of the main body's advance will be the first to hit a major population center, the town of Korsnokrat. While local partisan and militia forces moved house-to-house clearing out the xenos, and liberating slave encampments, the Skitarii maniples would be moving to one of their first primary objectives of the campaign, a data-tethering compound, in Korsnokrat which houses huge amounts of backup information and ancillary servers for Prima Jama.  

The battle concluded quickly, massed fusillades of high-powered weaponry proved the better of the data-tether's occupiers. The Orks, as is typical of their race gave a hearty effort, but lacking effective armor or transport could not approach the sons of mars to bring their savage strength to bear, and thus before nights end, the street outside the compound was piled with the charred corpses of Ork bully-boys, and the crude sheet metal glyphs and heretical alien technology which had been rammed haphazardly into the priceless equipment within.  A day on and a small army of newly freed lay-adepts and noncombatant mechanicus personnel had brought data-tether Ignatius back into the operational fold of Prima Jama.

The Liberation of Usmilplatz was having good success thus far, but could it be sustained?

-Your Favorite Madman-