The Guardsponies were still fighting, when suddenly, fiery lines cut the sky. Five seconds later, black-painted Drop Pod struck ground, creating explosion of mud in process. The Guardsponies were confused, but their General knew who had come to save them. One of the most mysterious Adeptus Astartes chapters, known for their brilliant guerrilla strategy, and devastating aerial assaults creating the perfect art of war.
These were the Raven Guard.
- "The Empress finest have come to aid us! Forward guardsponies, to victory!" - she rallied her forces once more.
In this moment something struck her mind. It was really old quote, from her mentor. It was 5 years earlier, in the city of Stallion Forge on Meridian. She was only a Mayor back there.
They were defending Stallion Forge from the biggest Changeling infestation this sector had ever seen. They were doing what Equestrian Guard always do best, they held line. The heroic defence made by the out-numbered Guardsponies had pushed Changelings back. Suddenly, red-painted drop pod sped across the sky and landed with a big *BOOM*.
Her mentor, Lord-General sighed and said :
"Space Marines, Lance of the Empress, Shield of Ponykind, always ready to steal all the credit and glory."
He turned his to look at her. His voice carried the weight of sadness. She didn't know why he was sad, Imperium had again won, so why be sa... her thought suddenly broke. The General was hugging her hard, his head lying heavily on her shoulder.
"Promise me, that some time, you'll be the one, who will carry all the glory for battle, even if the Space Marines will come to help you, do not rely on them. Be the one, who will save a day."
The Blood Ravens easily cut though rest of Changelings' forces, completely destroying them. Soon after, the entire sector was saved from xenos. Her mentor died on Typhon Primaris, when Exterminatus destroyed the planet during the Blood Ravens Crisis. Now, 5 years after that battle she knew what she needed to do.
She turned her eyes to rest of her army. They stopped shooting at the Orkz, instead the guardsponies watched how scouts from Raven Guard were deployed by Land Speeders Storm. No, this time, she would take some glory with her, and her Regiment.
"What are you waiting for, ponies? Forward! Move your lazy flanks and clear the area of xenos scum! For the Empress!" - she made the order waving her power sword, but the Guardsponies stood still. They were glaring at her, but they were waiting for something. The General knew exactly what her soldiers were waiting for.
She bypassed the sandbags and ran forward, shooting from her pistol like mad, and pointing her sword towards horde of thepinkskins. These few steps she made ahead immediately carry all the remaining all guardsponies from their cover. They followed her, shooting without exceling.
Yes, definitely, this time glory would be hers.
"Sorry Rainbow, but I won't allow you to kill all these Orkz by yourself" - Applejack said, moving all her troops forward, totally unexpected from the Equestrian Guard player. - "Your Raven Guard isn't as good as think"
"Heh, so now you will see some of the awesome stuff I prepared! And this stuff will not involve my Command Speeder dying on its first turn from Anti-Air missiles." - Dash answered with determination.
The Raven Guard was quite a new army, compared to the others. The Raven Guard Codex came in the 21th Edition, and for the Equestria war gaming population it was an extreme surprise. Surprise, because it was the first "newly-added" codex that wasn't extremely overpowered at start, but a bit underpowered instead; or just extremely hard to play, as Raven Guard fans would like to say. They were also quite unusual in game style, and because of it, Rainbow Dash chose them as her fighting force in this grimdark universe.
The Raven Guard Codex also changed some things in the fluff and lore. According to the new added Codex, the Raven Guard had abandoned the Codex Astartes and changed their strategy dramatically. Tactical, Terminators and Devastator Squads vanished, same with most vehicles like Predators, Vindicators, Razorbacks, Rhinos and Land Raiders. To fill the hole, Ponies Workshop added a few new units, and the rainbow pony wanted to use them in this battle.
Rainbow Dash had in total, two Veteran Scouts Squads, both embarked on Land Speeders Storm. The Veteran Scouts Squads were really powerful units. They had same stats as Tactical Space Marines, only their armor weakened from 3+ to 4+, but they still had "Scout", "Infiltrate" and "Move Though Cover" special rules, making them extremely mobile. To make matters worse for the enemy, the Raven Guard could Deep Strike Scouts, not even using Drop Pods by using "Ambush!" rule. Scouts on Land Speeders were equipped with sniper rifles and rocket launchers. Rainbow also had two Assault Squads with a Thunderhawk to Deep Strike, one Protectors Squad - Raven Guard's remake of Terminators, equipped with a absurdly big shields granting special "Feel No Pain" rule and increasing armor from 3+ to 2+. The only destiny for this unit was capturing points and holding relics, because they couldn't do any damage with bolt pistols, and they couldn't charge anything, because of "Immobile Titans" rule. Still, they could Deep Strike by drop pod.
But, those were only some Troops and one Elite choice. Rainbow's pride was the third vehicle. The Command Speeder Storm, bigger and more powerful version of Land Speeder. Higher armor value, two twin-linked heavy bolters, lascannon and best of all : transport capacity of ten models, but not just ordinary scouts models. The Command Speeder Storm could transport his Commander and Honor Guard equipped with master crafted axes, swords, hooves and claws. It was the ultimate adamantum hoof of her army. And of course, all Speeders in Raven Guard could Deep Strike. Her Speeder and HQ were the only units she painted truly herself, without Rarity's help.
Rainbow Dash mades Deep Strike rolles for every unit in her army to surround the Orkz and cut off their possibility of escape. Protectors Drop Pod made a direct hit, and landed in front of some Orkz to defend the Guardsponies from the enemy charge. The Land Speeders scattered, but they still deployed their Veteran Scouts in perfect firing position. The Command Speeder and two Assault Squads arrived on left and right flank, trying to engage the Partyzipantz armed with party cannons.
First "To - Hit" dices rolled on the table.
The Land Speeder immediately stood still. In this short moment, scouts jumped onto the ground. Just few second later, they were slowly observing the battlefield, looking for easy targets. There were a lot of craters, difficult terrain and trenches, but their supreme sight allowed them to spot some Orkz' heads just barely sticking out of the mud.
"Scouts in position" - The Sergant said by vox communicator.
"Any important enemies in sight?" - asked the Commander
"Negative. Only ordinary Orkz."
"Take them out. May the Empress guide your aim".
Sounds of snipers shoots were almost unheard. The voice of dying orkz, not so much.
"I still don't see this 'awesomeness'. I mean, okay, you killed some Party Orkz with these fancy weapons, but you took out only five of them." - Applejack said.
"And to make matters worse, I checked distances between units. If you cannot kill this guys, they will assault your Scouts in the next turn." - Twilight joined with her perfect calculation.
"Don't worry guys; everything is going according to my plan!” announced the cyan pony "But I must admit, I wished for a little more successful round of hits. This 4+ Cover Save is too strong.
"Not fair!" - the pink pony complained - "These models with power hooves were making the cutest faces! Oh, and Rarity painted tomato sauce on their plates!"
"Tomato sauce? I think it's..." - started Twilight
"Yea! Rarity is soooooo good at painting models, isn't she? I wish she could paint my entire army, because she is so good at painting armies that we should make "Rarity-Best-Painter Party!" And at this party...
Yes, it definitely was Rarity, that who finally got all her friends to play Warhammer. But the story about how they became dedicated war gamers was much longer...
An Epic, Awesome Tale about Joining the Greatest Battlefield of all time, filled with the Fame, Glory, Blood and Steel
Or
How did our normal friends become such Nerds?
In the grim darkness, of the Rainbow's house, Dash was reading next tome of the "Daring Do" series. It was a long night, and after many hours, she finished the entire book. Throwing the book at the "Finished" pile the cyan pony looked on at the another big pile of stuff she randomly borrowed from Twilight's library. She started browsing.
"Legend of Ponyrock"? Damm, this one was thicker than Big Mac!
"Stalliongrad Revolution - Volume 3"? Nah, boring, historical book.
"Witcherpony"? This one looked good, but then she checked the author. Heck, she even didn't know how to spell his name correctly.
"Horus Rising" Hmm...
She turned book to check what it was about. With every line, the smile on her face grew bigger. The idea of the Warhammer 40k universe seemed awesome to her. She checked the time on her clock, and placed the book on one of the bookshelves.
2:34 a.m
She turned to look at the book, then again to clock. One more time to the book, and one more time to the clock.
"Heh, I guess sleep can wait!"
Of course, the disease spread almost immediately. The first pony who got involved after Rainbow was Twilight. After one conversation with RD, the lavender pony was also reading some books from the WH40k universe.
Still, this was not the main reason why they started war gaming.
It happened just a few days after. Rarity soon joined the conversation between Twilight and Rainbow, when suddenly they changed topic to Warhammer. Rarity tried to change it back, but she failed. She was thinking about taking a nap when she heard one word.
"Miniatures? Did you say... miniatures?" - Rarity asked.
Twilight told her about all about the figures from this realm. It wasn't very large piece of the information, becauseTwilight was mostly interested in the books, rather than some crazy-expensive stuff from the Ponies Workshop. Still, it made Rarity interested.
Rarity did a lot of things during her stay at Canterlot. Of course, she bought materials for her work, she met celebrities from all over Equestria, and she visited some marvelous museums. She also met with Fancypants, and this meeting was the most important. It finally sealed and directed all six friends to a new way of life.
The meeting took place in the Fancypants resident. His palace was an impressive example of baroque architecture with some gardens. Rarity knew that Fancypants was wealthy, but still the richness of his house was stunning to her. Besides her and the most important pony in Canterlot, there were also some other nobles and celebrities. Plot Twister, famous pegasus writer from Cloudsdale; Dmitri Skórzewski , one of the Stalliongrad's agents; Sir Orbmost, with his wife, Lady Kimberlee, Hovard Jetblue, Arthur Reginald Webster, Karl-Heinz Mullet, Michael Norman Randall, and about twenty more, Rarity couldn’t remember all of them. The party they managed to make was magnificent, and Rarity enjoyed herself, talking and gossiping about everything and anything. She didn't remember how, but suddenly the topic of conservation changed to the Warhammer tabletop game. She was shocked, that almost everyone, including Fancypants at their feast were dedicated players of this game.
Same as last time with Twilight and Dash, she could no longer join their conservation. She couldn’t understand what they were talking about at all. Such things like "Broken Blood Angels Feel No Pain" or "Matthew Ward's idiotic lore" or "complaining about Mares of Battle release" were completely an abstraction to her. Some minutes later, Fancypants spotted that she wasn't talking at all.
"Miss Rarity, is there any problem that I could offer a gently help?" - he asked, while approaching to her.
"Oh, thank you a lot Fancypants, but I'm fine. I just don't know anything about this "Warhammer" game. - she answered.
"Do you want me to introduce you, or at least give you some information about it? I'm a bit suprised that you really don't know about it, but i think i can easily help you."
"I... I... think it would be really nice if you would do that" - Rarity answered delicately confused.
"Actually, i was going do this later anyway, so... - Fancypants turned back to crowd of nobles.
Ponies were looking at him with a look of curiosity. If there was a lady or gentlecolt that was busy gossiping, now they all silenced themselves. Fancypants wasn't stressed at all, even with the entire crowd observing him. He corrected his stately suit, and drew air into his mouth. His scream was so extremely loud, it almost stunned her.
"TABLETOP TIME!!!" - he cried, while raising his right hoof into air.
Then Chaos, that started after Fancypants shout; which was... fearsome to her. Everypony just started running everywhere, generating gigantic disarray. Servants bolted to storage rooms, bringing big, wooden tables. Some nobles carried big suitcases, some others brought strange books. Fancypants was observing the entire situation calmly, from time to time pointing where to put tables. Gentlecolts shouts didn't help, of course:
"...wait, what!? Dmitri brought his Stalliongrad Ice Warriors army!? If it's the same list from the South Equestria Blood & Steel Tournament we will definitely lose!"
"...what do you mean by saying we don't have the Belial figure!? Without him my Deathwing will fail!”
"...I took him to the painter, but he didn't manage to get this miniature ready in time!”
"...Dau!? You think you will do anything with them, against this "Entire-Forces-Feel-No-Pain-and-Deep-Striking-Land-Raiders-Army!?"
"...what edition of rulebook will we use!? If it won't be 18th edition..."
"...Codex! Where is my dammed Codex!?”
"...are you crazy!?”
"...if the Ultramarines will be allowed I swear by our goddess ruler,I will tear Fancypants apart!”
The entire disorder scared her, she started shaking and she couldn't help it, and the unexpected hug from Fancypants almost made her faint, but his words brought her back.
"Calm down, please, there is nothing to be worried about." - he said, with the same, calmly manner.
"Is this... normal?" - She tried to ask normally, but her voice dropped to whisper.
"I must admit, that I'm extremely suprised. They prepere the game more orderly than I expected. With everymatch, our discipline is rising, I suppose." - he answered.
"And... all these ponies play this?"
"A lot do. Even Princess Luna often plays with us. This time she will not be with us, unfortunately she is now in the Griffon Kingdom."
"And Princess Celestia?"
Fancypants waited a moment before answer.
"No. She told me that she had been playing for some time, but she abandoned it." - he finally spoke.
"Why?"
"She never told me. I think it was a bit a painful to her, something related with Princess Luna and... the Nightmare Moon incident." - Fancypants said.
Princess Celestia and Luna were players of this "game"? Such a thing was unbearable for Rarity's mind. But... what was this thing with Nightmare Moon? Had Fancypants meant the most recent one, or the old Nightmare Moon? If the later, it would mean that Warhammer 40,000 had been around for 1000 years so far. And what was the connection between Celestia abandoning game, and banishing Princess Luna to the moon? On the other hoof, if co-rulers of Equestria played Warhammer 40,000, it shouldn’t be bad at all. Fancypants immediatly spotted her relief.
"Hmm, maybe I could show you some things you would admire in the game?" - he asked.
"I guess it would be good." - Rarity answered.
"Then follow me, please" Fancypants said. The nobles were still fighting with disorder, trying to set up all their things for the battle. Someponies finally spotted, that they had forgot all templates and scatter dice. Fancypants ignored them, and walked through the hallway, and she followed him, strolling slowly. At the end of corridor there was a big, gold-covered chest. He approached it, and with a gentle move, he simply opened it. She looked above his shoulder to see what is inside.
It... it was most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Celestia was of course the most beautiful pony in the world, but this was fabulous in every other way. Ranks of soldiers in their ceremonial uniforms, with officers caps, marched with their rifles forward. Their uniforms were painted such marvelous colors, officers were painted in gold and blue, ordinary soldiers in gray and gold for comparison. There were also vehicles; all of them were lovely, even the littlest details were painted gorgeously, with some steel and gold combination.
"I would like to present to you, my army and my biggest pride: the Canterlot Iron Guard." Fancypants spoke "And I'm not exaggerating. These figures are actually the main reason why I’m sometimes called the most important pony in Canterlot. My army is almost unbeatable."
She couldn’t disagree, because the beauty of his army stunned her. She just couldn't stop observing all these details, all these perfectly created miniatures.
"And..." - he continued - "I would be honored if lady like you could play them in the upcoming match."
That was too much for Rarity. She fainted with a delightful smile on her face.
"So... I should place these guardsponies far from... how did you call them?" - Rarity spoke before deployment.
"These are the Space Wolves Miss Rarity, and exactly, you should place these squads far from them. They are pretty dangerous, especially if they charge your units in melee" - Fancypants answered.
-------
"Why there are so many rolls in this game? I mean, I commanded my squads to shoot at these Space Wolves, and why do I need to throw so many dices, first "To Hit", next "To Wound", and then "Armour Save"? - Rarity asked
"It can be exhausting, but I'm certainly sure, that it needs to be like this. And besides, you forgot Cover Saves and Invulnerable Saves."
"So there are even more?"
"Yes. You know, the actual Rulebook has 1034 pages. It's quite hard to learn these rules by heart, but it's still possible to learn the most important ones.
-------
"Wow, this one guardspony is marvelous! You really are an ingenious painter, my dear. And he killed an entire squad by himself!"
"That's Marbo, my lady. And he is a really powerful unit indeed." - Fancypants spoke - "There is even one saying : 'Marbo is so overpower that in the movement phase, Marbo stays stationary and moves the gaming table 6" in any direction', or: 'Marbo is never added to an army list. Army lists are added to Marbo.'
"Well, so why don’t all the players include Marbo in their army lists? Or rather, why aren’t all army lists added to Marbo?" - Rarity asked with a smile.
"Honestly? - he came close and then he whispered into her ear - "I have no idea".
-------
"And... after summing up Kill Points... Lady Rarity has won!" - Hovard Jetblue announced
Applause from the crowd of ponies was stunningly. She have just won her first battle... and she felt gorgeus with it! Of course, she didn't do it by herself. Actually, most time it was Fancypants who was playing. Still... emotion after game were truly positive.
Fancypants was gathering his miniatures, when suddenly, a strange thought struck Rarity's mind.
"Fancypants?"
"Yes?" - he turned eyes to her. Most of his Canterlot Guardsponies squads were already placed in their chest again.
"You see... this game was just... I can't even find words to describe how great this game was. And..."
"You are thinking about playing this game seriously, aren’t you? Well... I suppose I can help you with it.”
He reached for one of the bookshelves and drew out one of the books. Fancypants then gave it to her.
It was massive. It included extremely huge amount of pages and a heavy, gigantic cover. She almost fell over when she stood back up book in her hooves. She looked at the cover. There was a big picture on it. It was a powerful hammer, with the white skull on the smut. Below the hammer lay a lot of ponies’ skeletons, some weapons, skulls, scrolls, and other items she couldn't recognize at all. There was also an inscription on it, just barely above hammer.
Warhammer 40,000
Rulebook 20th Edition
Rarity came back to Ponyville, and almost immediately started convincing her friends to play the tabletop game. The first converted pony was Twilight. Mostly, because Rarity couldn't understand anything in the rulebook Fancypants gave her. So, the lavender unicorn just sat down with this one thousand page book and then, she slowly and methodical transcripted the entire tome into normal language.
Because of Rainbow Dash’s love of the books from the Warhammer 40,000 universe, she was easily converted too. Problem was that the cyan pony was a really bad painter. Rarity needed to help her with painting her newly-bought Raven Guard, and this was an extremely tiring job, even if Space Marines were the easiest to paint at all.
Pinkie Pie wasn't interested in all this tabletop stuff at all. Rarity and the other "just converted" friends didn't have any idea how to overcome her fear to miniatures war gaming. Rainbow Dash was the one, who got this done. Idea was simple, she gave Pinkie Pie a "Party Orkz Codex" and re-placed the cover with a "100 Ideas How to Make an Awesome Party" inscription on it. Actually, this wasn't so far from real one.
Applejack joined after the big conversation between her and Twilight. Applejack started playing Warhammer mostly because all other friends started playing too. After one game and some pages from Equestrian Guard Codex read she felt good with it.
Fluttershy was probably the hardest to convince. She didn't like idea of universe filled with blood, gore, violence, hate and other really bad looking words. The savior was Angel, who actually liked this idea. After he began a starvation diet Fluttershy didn't have any choice, and she started playing too. Compared to other ponies, Fluttershy always played with Angel on her side, half of the army for the shy pegasus, and half for the brilliant and brutal rabbit general. Her choice of army was obvious. Fluttershy agreed to play with the Dau Empire. Usually, Fluttershy command the Ethereal and the Kind Warriors Squads, while Angel takes the Dau Commander in Battle Suit with other XV8 Crisis Battlesuits Squad and Hammerhead Gunships. Despite that Dau is "weak" in the most ponies’ opinion, Fluttershy and Angel often won.
Some weeks after everypony joined the group, Twilight heard about an upcoming tournament. Actually, this tournament, in comparison to others, didn’t have any actual name. It was just "The Tournament" or "The Great Tournament". Despite the lack of adjectives, it would be the most important event for the entire war gaming population.
There were three Trophies for winning the tournament. First, you would be declared "The Best Equestrian War Gamer". Second, you would get totally awesome and glorious cup. Third, would be kind of strange. Ponies Workshop declared, that winner of the tournament will get opportunity to write a bit of fluff for his or her army. In summary, the prize would be incredibly high. These things were worth fighting for.
"Ehm... okay; now I’m kind of screwed.” Rainbow Dash said after seeing the results of her Assault Squads charge.
It was probably the worst charge in her war gaming history. Assault Squads with one power hoof each were stopped by a bunch of Orkz with sticks and axes. No doubt, it was even worse than losing the Command Speeder on the first turn.
"After your turn, I will join the battle. Better come up with something or my army will annihilate yours" Twilight told.
"Don't worry; I still have my glorious HQ! I declare a charge with my Commander and the Honor Guard on the biggest bunch of Partyzipents with the Warboss!" - commanded the cyan pony.
"Rainbow, but this group will melt you! Her Warboss has got two powerhooves with 6 attacks, this squad also has got a FUUUN! banner increasing their amount of blows." Twilight spoke "This will be in total... about fifty hits. Even your best squad won't survive this. If you suicide your entire army, Applejack won't be able to hold against Pinkie's and my army."
"Hah, you are really funny Twi! Just watch this! - Dash said, while gathering the dices.
Despite Rainbow Dash’s confidence, her friends were certainly sure, that if the cyan pony was not able to manage and make awesome rolls, the game would be certainly be lost for Applejack and her ally. They observed the entire flight of all dices, how they were rotating in the air, and then started rolling across the entire table.
They all gasped in unison.
To be Continued.
Only in death does duty end.