The Tau advanced on Drax Hall Plantation along several narrow trails that ran through the Sanada Valley. Along the way, the xenos seized two small plantations that offered only token resistance. (Click on image to enlarge.)

“Victory comes not from the handgun, the bayonet, nor the tank. It is won by the courage of the ordinary guardsman. If they are determined to win, then victory will be ours.“—Major Stevrous Stark, commander of the 4th Unified Brigade, Dar Sai

* * *

Sanada Valley
The Dark Forest, Southeast Quadrant
Great Continent, Dar Sai
3 297 744.M41

Brigade headquarters was a large if ragged tent, overflowing with vox receivers, tactical displays, and a multitude of worried officers and clerks scurrying about their duties.

It was also hot and claustrophobic. Major Stevrous Stark used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off his brow. On the table before him, a tactical display revealed—as best as anyone could determine—where his troops were deployed. What was not displayed was the location of advancing Tau units.

“We received a report that Tau armor was spotted on Trail 19-D, did we not?” he asked his intelligence officer, Captain Erasmus Huss. “Why isn’t their location on the screen?”

“It was reported by the 7th Torimide Militia,” Huss replied. “They see a shadow and scream they’re being attacked. We sent an aerial drone to the area, and it hasn’t seen any sign of xeno activity.”

Stark sighed and punched his finger at a wooded valley in the middle of the display. “Then we stick to the plan. Terrain defines any battle, and this valley would allow the Tau to slip around our flank—at least what they think is our flank. Let’s hope they haven’t noticed we’ve reinforced the position.”

* * *

When the Imperials decided to launch a counterattack against the weaker left flank of the Tau, it was lead by squadrons of Sentinel walkers supported by infantry.

As his Hammerhead tank worked its way through the thick forest, Shas-el T’au Var’si also struggled to determine the position of the enemy.

On his sensor display, mounted on the hull just a few tor’il in front of him, he could see clearly a number of friendly units on display. The unit identity code of a Fire Warrior team revealed that a squad of fighters were advancing to his right. with another squad to his left.

An alarm sounded, and the screen lit up as enemy units came into range. Six red triangles approximately 200 meters to his front.

Leaning into the sight of his targeting array, he looked out on a handful of trees to his front, just on the edge of a grassy meadow beyond. In the distance, he caught sight of movement: gue’la vehicles and walkers.

“Enemy sighted,” he spoke into his communicator to his crew.  “We’ll target the walkers in the lead.”

The Hammerhead’s rail gun began to hum louder as power flowed to its capacitors, and Var’si focused the targeting array on the lead walker. It was what the gue’la called a Sentinel—the heavily armored version.

The walker was advancing across the meadow, the targeting array pinged that it had a lock, and Var’si pressed the firing trigger. The Tau’s hearing membranes were deafened by the weapon’s discharge, despite being protected by a sound-dampening headset.

Almost instantly, the rail gun’s projectile impacted with the walker.  A flash of light temporarily blinded the Tau commander, and when his eyes cleared, there was no sign of the vehicle. Its armor had not protected it from utter obliteration.

“Recharge!” an ecstatic T’au Varis ordered. “Recharge!”

* * *

A Tau Riptide endures heavy Imperial fire after it descends to the front of a Cadian company. It was supported by several Crisis Suit teams, scores of gun drones, and mechanized xeno infantry.

Private Haddaway was screaming.

Enemy gunfire was coming from three directions, and the ground was littered with fellow guardsmen. Some were on their bellies, firing on the enemy. Others lay still—dead or wounded.

A score of gun drones and three Tau Crisis Suits were firing from the woods to his right, and a 10-meter-tall Riptide was descending on flames to his front. To his left, his Chimera transport stood burning. He couldn’t see any sign of his buddy, Corporal Catillo.

Plasma rounds from the gun drones slammed into the  armored Sentinels to his front. None penetrated the walker’s armor, but the Sentinel pilots weren’t concerned by the man-sized drones. It was the xeno monster that had landed to their front that had their attention.

Belly down on the ground, Haddaway watched in horror as the Riptide—equipped with a massive Heavy Burst Cannon—opened up on the Sentinels. Hundreds of plasma rounds bathed the walkers, flame erupting as white hot plasma slammed into the walkers’ thick armor.

To Haddaway’s shock, the Sentinels did not fall. Instead, they stood their ground, targeting the Riptide with their multi-lasers. Both sides just kept shooting at one another at point-blank range.

Click here to read Part 2 of this battle report.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.