Rise of a Fleet

[damnos]

Greetings Fellow Hive Minds.

As some of you might have seen from my previous thread, I have decided to create a narrative for a new Hive Fleet.  With each game, I will be using the events to create a storyline.  All stemming from the unfortunate crash landing onto the Necron Tomb World of Damnos.  Thus the name of the fleet.

Whilst Damnos is a planet already in the WH40K lore, I will only be touching base there momentarily to start the story going.

Because events cannot be changed too much on Damnos, the Tyranid Fleet soon realised the futility of remaining there as Necrons dont offer a good enough deal of Biomass.  However, it does begin the story of the feud between one Necron Overlord; Overlord Yseras.

So what do I need from you? The Fleet needs to grow, will you add your battle reports to the storyline in order to grow a narrative?

[damnos]

It was the explosion above Damnos that woke the Necrons, as the Tyranid Hive Ship roared into the atmosphere, sections of the ship torn apart by cannon fire following a devastating interception by the Imperium of Man. The Hive Fleet was already divided after a first surprise attack that left this last surviving ship burning through space. This final blow suggested the end for the Hive.

It was a small group of Warriors and Termagants that arose from the mess of mangled bodies on Damnos that led to the hope of the Hive Fleets survival, much to the cost of the Necron army. The Fleet would have been shackled and destined for failure if it wasn't for the arrival of one last survivor. The dreaded Hive Tyrant.

The Tyranids wasted no time in rushing towards the Necron threat that arose from their slumber in response to this alien invader. What little comprehension the Tyranids had, knew that they must protect the Hive Ship, knowing that the death of the ship, would mean the death of the fleet . The first rays of gauss fire was shrugged off by the looming Tyranid Warriors. The Hive Tyrant took it's first taste of living metal as his bioweapons tore apart an entire squadron of Necron Warriors.

The Hive Fleet rushed forwards unrelenting as the Necron defense fired panicked shots at the monstrous threat. More warriors and Immortals fell at the hand of the advancing Warriors and Gaunts. As the Tyranid horde rushed forwards, ripper swarm emerged consuming anything that could be devoured so that the Hive Fleet Ship could begin it's repairs, fueled by the new biomass of a fresh planet.

But the true hero emerged as a Necron Overlord, Yseras, stood defiant against the horrifying Hive Tyrant, infesting the creatures mind with mind shackle scarabs and controlling him like a puppet as he slashed and clawed at his own flesh.

This courageous act against a creature 10 times it's size re-urged the Necron war-band, yet, it was too little, too late, but not before a lone group of immortals wiped out an entire quarter of the approaching Tyranid army. The remaining Tyranids clawed, chewed and devoured their way through the remaining Necrons, leaving only the Overlord alive in his struggle against the Tyrant.

With one maddened blow struck hard and fast, the Tyrant finally took down the Overlord marking an end to the battle, and a start to the resupply of biomass. The stomachs of the Ship churned as they filled with new biomass and the remains of their fallen comrades.

As the Tyrant turned to join the feeding frey, the Overlord was resurrected, however the Tyrant did not get the opportunity to strike again before the Overlord was ported away from the battle to recount the happening to a central command.

Thus rose Hive Fleet Damnos. 1 small underestimation of the power of a hungry Hive Fleet, and 1 small failure by the Necrons may well have lead to the extinction of all life in the Ultima Segmentum.

[damnos]

Damnos had turned on its axis 37 times since the invasion of the Tyranid Hive Fleet. The sounds of battle above had cause old gears to once again begin churning. The failure of Overlord Yseras however had not gone unseen by the sleeping eyes beneath the planet's surface. Disgraced and beaten, Overlord Yseras returned to the catacombs, where he met with a court who had already decided his fate. Stripped of his title as Overlord, the newly ashamed Lord Yseras suffered a new insult that he would not allow to go unpunished.

With vengence in his fragile mind, Lord Yseras gathered a few followers under the guidance of the court, to hunt down the Hive Fleet before they consumed the resources that the Necrons had waited for so patiently in their slumber.  The trail of Hive Fleet Damnos however, seemed to die a cold death in the vacuum of space, and Lord Yseras could find no trace or word spoken of further hive fleet activity, until the communications device in his ship picked up on a distress call in the Oralune system, far from Lord Yseras' Tomb World of Damnos.  The Lord immediately set course for the Planet of Vorin V, where shimmers across the warp showed a trail to Hive Fleet Damnos like fallen breadcrumbs.

Vorin V was a large Planet, 2.4 times that of Damnos, with only 3 planets revolving around the Green sun, Rhaan, the system was quiet, all but for the sour taste that seemed to emanate from all 3 planets in the System, Vorin V, Sypheros and Vult.  The taste of man.  The distress call the ship had stumbled across was from a settlement on the large planet below. 

However, as Lord Yseras entered the fragile atmosphere of Vorin V he felt the clawing of psychic power scratching at his mind, but this was not the Shadow cast by the Tyranids, this was something more, as though a thousand hands clasped him and would draw him near.

The Tyranid invasion was already in full effect on the planets ravaged surface, and the Hive Fleet had grown exponentially since Lord Yseras had first seen them on Damnos. The Lord ordered for the ship to be lay down behind the advancing Tyranids, but as the ship descended, he was disgusted to see what filth the Tyranids were tearing apart. Daemons.  The content of the distress call had not been about the Tyranids, it was due to several small fractures in the Warp vomitting out wave after wave of daemons across the planet surface.  Man did not even understand the full severity of the fate about to befall them, they had not even had the opportunity to respond to the Tyranid invasion before settlement, after settlement was consumed by the maws of the Fleet.

As the sensation of psychic clawing passed he knew what he was to do. The Daemons had made a pact with him. With their numbers dwindling against the advancing horde of Hive Fleet Damnos, and no chance of reinforcement arriving before being doomed to a fate they would not stand to suffer, Lord Yseras had been offered the reward of a Boon from the Daemons, should he be successful in destroying this wave of taloned horrors.

With vengeance in mind, and a desire to reclaim his former title of Overlord once again, Lord Yseras commanded his army to charge the Hive Fleet in a strategic pincer movement...



-----------------------------------------------



This battle is the next part of my Tyranid campaign and should the Necrons succeed in this battle, Lord Yseras will be allowed to roll on the Chaos boon table at the beginning of every other campaign in the game. My Necron playing friend is yet to decide if he will field Yseras however, as a death here will signify true death, and Yseras will not return.



The Necron will, however, be allowed 1 more attempt at receiving a boon. Should they lose the first match, then a second match will take place, however this time the Necron and Daemon army will advance at night to try and catch the Tyranids unaware.



I will be playing my Tyranids of course, and my friend his Necrons, however, a 3rd player is joining for this battle to play the Daemons. As he is a newer player, we decided a 2v1 would be a good start for him, and thought he would like the opportunity to disturb the flow of our campaign

[damnos]

Lord Yseras and his army closed in upon the Hive Fleet, it wasn't until they were nearly upon the battle that Yseras realised the severity of the situation.  The hordes of Tyranids were unlike anything he had ever seen.

The Gods of Chaos however, do not offer their boons lightly, and they are a tricky and traitorous breed.  Upon the arrival of the Necron Armada, the Gods called for the retreat of their daemons and left the Necron Fleet with a handful of corrupted Man to fight this losing battle.  Yseras, a fearless leader did not waver, and called for the immediate charge of his Immortal Guard to meet the Tyranid Monstrosities head on

The sounds of rotten and decayed explosion startled his blackened heart.  The Tyranid Fleet acted as though they knew what to expect.  It was as though they knew of the inbound reinforcements and had reacted with appropriate measure. With Biovores.  

The explosion wiped out an entire group of Chaos cultists who had little time to react to the inbound spores fired by these bloated and disgusting creations.  With a triumphant roar, they seemed to rejoice in their sure aim.  The barrage they fired shuck the ground and drew the attention of a foe familiar.  The Hive Tyrant.  

The Hive Tyrant seemed to glow and revel in the onslaught, and before Lord Yseras had the opportunity to respond, a mighty psychic blast wailed its way across the field of dead, aimed directly at his Immortal Guard.  His unit shattered at the impact, his 10 greatest guard whittled down to a single Immortal.  All he could do was watch as the Hive Fleet descended upon him crackling and roaring and shattering his resolve.

Before Lord Yseras had the chance to call his retreat, 2 groups of Hormagants bounded towards him from behind a large rock, the distraction of the loss of so many units within the opening minute of the battle could well cost him his life.

The last thing Yseras saw before being consumed by a cloud of tooth and talon, was a pair of carnifexes raging their way across the deadened battlefield, and tearing their way into 2 chaos obliteraters.

Yseras fought like the Overlord he should have been, and one by one he tore limb from carcass, leg from torso and head from body, and the Hormagants fell dead at his feet.  His annihilation barge roared into life and tore a hole in the oncoming swarm.  Through the bodies of the dead, Yseras saw the first light that could turn the tides against the outnumbering swarm.  A Chaos Heldrake screamed into the skies, spitting a foul stench at the Hive Tyrant.  The Tyrant tumbled to the ground and the Heldrake cruised at it unrelenting, staring up at the Heldrake as it streamed towards it, a defiant roar was cut short by cannon blast.

The horde of Tyranids seemed to fall apart.  The amazing organisation that began the battle, striking a fatal blow to both the chaos and Necron forces seemed to flop about the warzone like a detached limb... synapse, that was it, without their warlord to guide them, the Tyranid force was helpless.  The Heldrake and The Barge picked apart the remaining Tyranid forces, destroying every last creature.

The battle was won, but this war was far from over, Lord Yseras however had learnt something that could turn this war around.  Destroy the Synapse, destroy the horde.

A haze fell upon him as he heard a voice float over the bodies of the dead in daemonic tongue 'Hazzak ma'thiem lo'kir yogur felamur atki loór'.  His right arm burst into rotten flame, a stench unlike anything he had ever know consumed him, this was not just the smell of death, but rotten death.  The boon he was promised was given to him.  For a moment he glimpsed into the mind of the beast.  A God without bounds, truly absolute, commanding a legion so vast it could blot out the suns.  He was left with one last taste.  Of Traitory.

Yseras gathered the slim remains of his force and returned to his ship feeling no sense of victory.  He may have won, but there was so much loss on his side, that he could not revel in this.

[damnos]

Hundreds of canoptek spyders are guarding the entrance halls,
Each spyder is breeding endless swarms of scarabs.

They are programmed for only one thing: protect the tomb world from intruders regardless of the cost.

Nobody can enter the tomb, our secrets must remain safe.



“none can enter, nobody is allowed. I must protect ‘Manyor’.

SCARABS, we need more scarabs,
I must protect the tomb, nobody is allowed to enter.

My master will soon awake!”



In the centre of the tomb world, canoptek wraiths are protecting the master’s lair.

A massive and ornate black stone sarcophagus can be found in the middle of the giant room. One can truly see that this is the sleeping place of a powerful overlord..

This is -for over 60 million years - the resting place of Overlord Manyor.



Overlord Manyor was one of the most influential lords of the Necrontyr people.

His dynasty so powerful and technologically advanced that ‘The Silent King - Szarekh couldn’t just ignore him.

Instead of starting a war against him, Szarekh offered Manyor a position in his royal court.

Millions of Necrontyr lives were spared because of this action.



It was in this position that Manyor saw Szarekh agree with one of the C’than (whom is referred to now as : “The Deceiver”) and so forever doomed the Necrontyr race.



“none can enter, nobody is allowed. I must protect ‘Manyor’.

I must protect the lair, nobody can enter. My master will soon awake!”



The ground is trembling, the tomb world shakes…

Large cracks begin to emerge in the floor.

A high screech follows as hundreds of tyranids enter the tomb world through the cracked floor.

They are ready to devourer every living soul, every speck of living metal…



The Canoptek Spyders, Wraiths and Scarabs did what they were programmed for. They fought to protect the tomb world.

Many tyranids where slain but for each death of every tyranid monster, two new foul creatures arrived.

Soon the tomb world was infected by the tyranid swarm.

Once they entered the center of the tomb world and thus to the entrance of the master’s lair, the tyranids stopped their attack.



A blue shiny object caught their attention, one could truly feel the power of this object.

Instead of fighting the remaining scarabs, spyders and wraiths, the tyranids did something unnatural.

The Hive Tyrant grabbed the object and commanded every tyranid to leave the tomb.

The hive fleet turned tail, and left the tomb through the cracked floor, the hive tyrant was the last to leave, taking the object with him with a defiant roar that echoes around the walls of the tomb.



The tomb world was silent once more.

However you could feel something was missing…



In the center of the tomb – in the master’s lair, Manyor opened his glowing blue eyes…

He has awoken from his sleep, ready to reclaim what was taken from him!

[damnos]

Saved for future battle 4

[damnos]

Saved for future battle 5

[damnos]

Saved for future battle 6

[damnos]

Added part 2, hope you guys enjoy the storyline so far, and please, as always feel free to comment on what you would change, and what you would love to see.

[sunnyrobert]

[damnos]

Looks like Mr Sunnyrobert is siding with the enemy

[Hive Bahamut]

Those would be flayed ones not Genestealers I assume. Good read so far. Nothing constructive to add other than wonderful pic. (Flayed ones can deep strike right?)

[damnos]

Glad you enjoyed it Bahamut! If only one person enjoys reading this, then I will keep writing up and posting the narrative and a storyline using events from the games.

The next game is planned within the next 2 weeks, all 3 of the players in the next game have kids so it's a hard job to plan!

[damnos]

Made a few changes (not major) to the last narrative before the next game, just to add a little more atmosphere, and set up storyline for further campaigns. To avoid upsetting he greybeards, I have moved away from Damnos for obvious reasons. It seems obvious that after a near defeat while so fragile, that Hive Fleet Damnos would not stay on the Planet of Damnos to face extinction, and have thus moved further away.

For those who didn't see my previous thread, it is worth knowing that we are building up the storyline at the same time as my gaming partner builds up his new necron army, so the further we get into the campaign the more new units you should see.

I currently have just over 2200 points of unbuffed tyranid models, so swapping and changing them should be easy enough to evolve the campaign.

for those who would like to know the storyline so far, but don't enjoy walls of text=

TL;DR

A Tyranid hive fleet has crash landed on the Necron Tomb World of Damnos. This is the first contact ever made with this hive fleet so the Necrons have named the fleet after the Planet they were first seen to invade. Due to being on the brink of death the necrons had the opportunity to wipe them out but Overlord Yseras failed in this task and Hive Fleet Damnos gathered enough Biomass to repopulate their army slightly, and for their Hive ship to repair and leave the planet whilst they bolstered their Tyranid Population.

Overlord Yseras was demoted to Lord for his failure, and has been sent out to hunt down the Hive Fleet before they ravage too much of the System they were in, but they have since moved to another nearby system and began their first full scale invasion on the Planet of Vorin V, a planet populated by Man, which was already suffering due to a daemonic invasion too.

The Daemons have made a pack with Lord Yseras, that should he be successful in aiding them with fighting back the Tyranids, that they would grant him a Daemonic boon.

[damnos]

Part 3 added. After a truly awesome battle I genuinely thought in the opening turn of the game that I won outright. My opponents (necron army + CSM army) nearly surrendered at the end of my first turn. By the end of turn 3, I still had to take a casualty, my opponents were left with an annihilation barge, Lord Yseras 1 immortal that somehow regrouped and a heldrake, I truly led the battle all this way.

However, It really goes to show that the roll of a dice can be a fickle foe, and they began turning up nothing except 6's! The Heldrake, Yseras and the Annihilation barge picked everything off one by one. The strategy my opponents had set off to use was remembered and they turned all their fire power on my synapse, something they always ignore, and I had taken advantage of. Because they always forgot, I foolishly ran with 1 synapse with 18" so that I could group up knowing they had very little they could do, so i could focus fire them down.

The lose of my synapse turned against me, and they began to turn the fight around. By the end of turn 5, they had tabled me!

Enjoy the narrative created for battle number 3, and look forward to a twist in the plot line soon.