Shining armour's piercing ring
Horses run with polished shield,
Fight Those Bastards till They Yield
Midnight mare and blood red roan,
Fight to Keep this Land Your Own
Sound the horn and call the cry,
How Many of Them Can We Make Die!
And so begins the chronicle of one of the more kick-ass battles I've ever had in Dawn of War.
The planet? Dunno. This is a Stalingrad mod map that features a fairly narrow battlefield dominated by a very long bridge, long enough that no jump-capable units can cross it in a single bound. Control of the bridge decides victory in this scenario, and both ends are easily defensible, guaranteeing a meatgrinder battle.
I wasn't looking for a particularly hard game- this was a blow-off for another joyous day. So I set up the Cadian Inquisition mod, an excellent piece of work by a dedicated crew. The setup was myself and two AI Space Marine allies vs. the Alpha Legion and two Imperial Guard, all AIs.
Now, the AI doesn't fully know how to use the Cadian Inquisition mod, which introduced Guard doctrines into play in a rather brilliant fashion. So I was expecting massed attacks by hordes of Guardsmen, but not a lot of usage of their more advanced weapons and tactics.
I was in for a bit of a surprise.
Some of the units and buildings in the mod aren't up to the graphical standard of the base game, but these guys have done some excellent work, and being as how I don't think doctrines will be included in the upcoming Guard expansion, I actually expect the Cadian Inquisition mod to eventually surpass the THQ product in all ways. It's that good.
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Battle begins. From my position on the far eastern corner of the map, my faithful Guardsmen move in to secure strategic points, vital for the requisition of more units, that we can bring justice to the traitors on the other side of the bridge.
Likewise, my staunch allies of the Blood Ravens Chapter also begin seizing strategic points, as well as beginning construction of a Chapel Barracks, so as to summon the mighty squads of marines that will bring death to the foe.
Now, the Blood Angels were also present at the battle, but their contribution was rather minimal, to say the least. Not to cast foul slander or anything upon an honorable Chapter of the Astartes, but rumor has it they were all busy chowing down at the blood bank, which is why they hardly showed up.
Of course, the traitorous wretches of the Alpha Legion were not sitting idle, beginning construction of their own blasphemous buildings.
Battle is quickly joined, with a Blood Ravens scout squad engaging a squad of Emperor-bedamned cultists in close combat.
However, they soon run into trouble as a squad of traitor marines move in to support the cultists.
Fear not, reinforcements are enroute, as the Guardsmen enter the fray. Note the Blood Angels squad on the left- this is one of the few times in the game that I saw them actually shooting at anything.
Okay, our end of the bridge is secured. Time to let the marines keep up the pressure on the bridge while I toss in some quick defenses and a bit of a reserve to guard against any temporary breakthroughs.
I thought a couple of turrents and a couple of platoons would do the job, along with a fortified listening post.
My naivete would soon be rewarded. As Sidious said... 'Your faith in your friends...'
On the other side of the bridge, the heretics begin massing their forces for a hard push.
Now, this is something that would have disturbed me if I'd noticed it- one of the things I'd seen before was the computer's tendency to throw Imperial Guard fire support squads into combat without the heavy weapons that make them viable. So I'd sort of assumed that the AI just didn't know to assign them heavy weapons, essentially rendering them to be undersized squads of lasgun infantry.
However, as this image proves, the AI knew all too well how to utilize the fire support squads. As I was busy building a firebase right next to the bridge chokepoint, I was unaware that the Blood Ravens had discovered this wrinkle in AI tactics. By the way, the fire support squads are completely generated by the mod team, and they're a great piece of work.
Okay, the firebase is built. I'm starting to assemble a bit of an army, and all my production facilities are right there next to the bridge entrance, so I can quickly stream troops in and bulldoze the opposition. At this point, my plan is to utilize a combination of heavy armor and paratroop doctrine- the tanks blast their way to within sight of the other end of the bridge, then the Kasrkin paradrop in and smash the defenses, creating an opening for the armor to break through into the open field and begin assaulting the enemy bases.
No plan of contact survives contact with the enemy, etc., etc.
Having massed up, the heretics decide that rather than wait around to be attacked, they'd much rather attack me. First they send in Raptor jump troops, who make short work of my two-platoon defense and associated bolter turrents.
Okay, the defenses are crumbling, but we can still hold. I start producing infantry to plug the gap, and with the assistance of my faithful allies we can still hold the line.
Right guys?
Guys?
Why yes, that would be the Blood Ravens, in full-fledged retreat. Way to hold to the Codex Astartes, guys. I knew I should've brought the Space Puppies or the frickin' Ultrasmurfs along instead.
Admittedly, the scene at the front is getting pretty ugly.
But of course, when asked after the battle why they fled, the Blood Ravens denied that it was a retreat in the face of the enemy. No, it's just that everyone knows it's cold at Stalingrad, so they were all heading over to the thermal generator to get warmed up before returning to dealing death in the name of the Emperor.
Okay, here's a birds-eye view of the battle. (If said bird was equipped with IFF so as to be able to sort out the reds from the blues.)
Firebase Alpha is that string of green dots running south. The green to the east is my main base, but all it really is is a massive collection of power generators to fuel my mighty war machine. And by the Emperor, I would not run short of power for the entire battle.
Note that Firebase Alpha is officially cut off at this point, but not to worry, because I have managed to pull up some hasty reinforcements.
Yes, these fine lads are on the perimeter, bravely defending the Firebase against enemy incursions. Backed up by several sentinels, they're ready for anything.
Anything but a Chaos Sorceror, that is.
But hey, no matter how powerful a chaos sorceror is, he's still one man, no match for the faith and fury of the Imperial Guard. This asshole is going to take Alpha? Him and what army?
Oh.
That's a whole lot of traitors.
Here's the updated minimap of the situation. Note the large red mass that represents every fucking traitor on the planet.
I had the damndest urge to repeat the words 'One hundred fucking THOUSAND men!' over and over.
Which is an inside joke. Cynical Cat will get it, as will the Necrontyr Massager.
Now, you look at that red blob, and you say 'Hey, he's got a huge allied army over there, that big blue blob.'
Not really. Most of that blue blob is the base facilities of the Blood Ravens. That much smaller blue blob that looks like it's about to be eaten by the massive red blob? That's their, ahem, army.
No worries though, the full weight of the enemy assault isn't going to crash into their home base just yet.
No, first the traitor guard have to demonstrate their literal-mindeness about the term 'firebase'.
Oh look! Kasrkin infantry equipped with flamers! Will the wonders of the computer's utilization of the Cadian Inquisition mod never cease?
What's next, snipers?
Dumb question, that. Yes, they're also in there.
However, their focus on my firebase lets my allies sneak in and drop an orbital bombardment on the mass of enemy troops.
Well, as it turns out, they actually dropped it in front of the enemy troops, but as Scott likes to say, 'Close enough for government work.'
What followed is the saving grace of the limits of the AI. Rather than pursue my forces deep into my firebase, the heretics settle for destroying the facilities at the edges. Then, because there are no strategic points of interest in the area where the rest of the base is built, they decide to move on and assault the Blood Ravens. I'm sure that the story of their glorious defense of their base will be prominently recorded in the history of this company of Blood Ravens, studiously omitting the part about how it wouldn't have happened in the first place, if they hadn't RUN LIKE LITTLE YELLOW BITCHES.
What followed was a lot of 'Oh shit, I'm fucked' as I watched the red horde begin to engulf the Blood Raven base. However, with the facilities I did have left, I began producing more infantry, and also started to produce some Vulture gunships.
At this point, the only chance was to make a slashing attack, destroy their forces in the field, and buy time for the marines to back my play.
The buildup was excruciatingly slow, while I wondered how long it would take for them to come actually break the Raven defense and then go pouring into my fields of power generators. However, I finally assembled my army and surged.
The plan was not to engage the enemy directly, but rather to storm the bridge and form a pocket, then let the two chapters of marines do their assault thing and crush it, while I knocked the heretics back to their side of the bridge.
And I'll be damned if it didn't work.
In their most shining moment of the whole battle, the marines make short work of the entrapped enemy forces, actually allowing my forces not to get crushed in a pocket of their own.
Okay, so now I'm at the heretic side of the bridge, but I'm at the end of my rope for the moment. What reinforcements I have are trickling out, and unless I get some serious support from the marines, I'm going to have to fall back and essentially settle for a return to our starting positions.
Fear not, the Astartes always faithfully stand by their allies! Here comes the mighty surge of marine reinforcements.
All one of them.
Color me underwhelmed. Better yet, a sudden surge by the heretics slams a wave of fresh units into my little counterattack, wiping it out to the last man. This is where that one dinky little Whirlwind earned its pay and more. Not only did it spoil an enemy counterattack with well-placed salvos, it actually damaged a Defiler before retreating with like ten hit points left. So while I can fault the Blood Ravens for not sending in more forces, I do have to admit that the Whirlwind that wouldn't die did save the day.
Because while it was dancing with the Defiler, we were busy assembling fresh defenses at the other end of the bridge.
Much better, much stouter than before. Couple of squads of terminators, a Predator tank, a hellfire dreadnought, yeah, this is a force that can actually hold, and it's got the firepower to seriously attrite the enemy before they close the range.
However, I know that it's just a matter of time before they swamp us with bodies again. Yep, here comes the first wave.
But that's fine, because I've been anticipating it, and greet them with a horde of Vulture gunships, specially loaded for the occasion.
Go Vultures! Oh, was that your Machine Pit? So sorry.
Oh, was that your Predator?
Oh, was that your GODDAMNED BASE?
And because the death of traitors is sweet in the eyes of the Emperor, let's see that again from another angle.
Hunh, the rockets are detonating before they hit the base. Proximity fuses- interesting.
Okay, blitzkrieg attack takes out the Alpha Legion base. But I know now not to take the traitor Guard lightly. Time to move the Vultures on to their base.
Hi guys!
Okay, Vultures are sweeping the ground on the far western base, but in the meantime, the bottom base is sending troops to try to close the bridgehead.
At this point the battle is pretty much won, but they could inconvenience me and drag this out. And I've learned hard lessons about their cunning in emplacent of fire support squads. So I have to secure the other end before they can close it.
That means that it's time to send in the PBIs.
Well look at that. A squad of assault terminators, who COULD be, you know, assaulting the other enemy base, or meeting their troops in the field and stalling their attack. But no, they're all standing around, posing around an Imperial Relic they're busy 'capturing'. Yeah, the same relic that my Vultures blasted the listening post off of.
Just outside of this shot is the cameraman from the media crew, there to record the glorious 'Marine victory'.
My troops pause for a moment, considering how satisfying a few well-placed grenades would be at that moment.
But they move on, because while Astartes take the glory...
...Guard take the ground.
The Vultures have nearly finished off the other base of traitorous Guardsmen.
While the infantry begin advancing into the final enemy base.
Finally, the Vultures show up just in time to join in the assault on the enemy HQ, delivering the Emperor's Final Absolution for traitors. Let those who consort with Chaos be warned, this is the fate of all who oppose Him On Earth.
Dawn has broke, the time has come,
Move Your Feet to a Marching Drum
We'll win the war and pay the toll,
We'll Fight as One in Heart and Soul
Midnight mare and blood red roan,
Fight to Keep this Land Your Own
Sound the horn and call the cry,
How Many of Them Can We Make Die!
