On the Eve of War

"Tomorrow the war for Stygias begins in earnest. The foes arrayed against us are many and we are few. I will not deny that the going will be tough and i don't expect many of you to survive. However, those who make it through the tempest will be deemed most worthy in the eyes of the Primordial Annihilator and borne to greatness above all others

Now let us rise and defeat these heathen Astartes who seek to defile the promised land of the the Khorne!

Blood for the Blood God!"

Vash Etogaur at the onset of the Stygias Campaign

Tomorrow sees the first battle of the latest campaign at my local gaming club. It's been pushed back a week due to stuff going on in my life, but in all honesty, the extra week of thinking has done me good and i'm a lot more optimistic about my battle plan than i was before

I'm up against Vanilla Marines in the first round, defending in a Planetfall mission with my Blood Pact, a role which i'm none too happy about, what with my usual force being geared for attack, so i've had to devise some unorthodox tactics, which i will divulge fully tomorrow after the battle, as my opponent reads this blog, so i don't want him learning of my plans quite yet. I'll explain all later when i put up the battle report. I'll say now though that he won't know what hit him!

Instead, i'll outline the fluff i've been developing for my army. I've come up with this to mainly explain why he's fighting all sorts of races, instead of just Guard and Space Marines (the imperial forces in the sabbat worlds) and also how he came to be on Stygia in the first place (which is according to the campaign fluff, near the Ghoul Stars)

Vash Etogaur is a highly respected commander within the Blood Pact, his name associated with the most high risk and dangerous missions, where chances of survival were minimal. Yet the Etogaur has a knack of emerging miraculously unscathed, causing many within the ranks of the Pact to believe he is marked for greatness by the blood god himself

As a Damogaur on Morlond he led in insertion team that led to the destruction of high marshal Iago’s command leviathan. His crack Death Brigade lay low in the engine rooms for three days before striking with a graviton bomb. The resulting concussion wave ripped the heart out of the imperial eastern flank, which chaos forces surged forward to fill . It took 5 days for Crusade forces to re- plug the gap, during which time the Blood Pact reaped a mighty toll on the imperials, offering many thousands of skulls up to Khorne. This victory saw Vash rise to the rank of Etogaur and an entire philia put under his command.

High command seemed to suit Vash, combining cunning with sheer audacity. Even as the Archenemy withdrew from Morland, he commanded a masterful rearguard, coordinating a series of devastating strikes on the victorious imperials, ensuring even in defeat the Blood God would take his toll.

With the favours piled upon him, his career was set to be monumental, with him tipped to become the Anarch's second-in-command after Vayrys was slain on Tarnagua. However, Khorne had different ideas.

Imperial histories record how that ancient edifice of Sparshad Mons was obliterated from orbit after imperial guard scouts discovered a series of warp gates running beneath its surface, through which the Blood Pact were ferrying forces from off-world.

Vash was on the threshhold of one of these gates when the first lance strike hit the gate, severing its connection to the aether in a heartbeat and causing violent feedback through the network, killing thousands of chaos warriors instantly. Vash lost his left arm and suffered burns to most of his body, but he survived. Just.

As he lay in the medicae bay of the 'Hand of Rage', lost in a fever-induced trance, it is said that the Primordial Annihilator himself spoke to him, granting Vash visions of hidden sources of power throughout the galaxy, just waiting to be claimed by those with the strength of will to do so.

It was a sign of Vash's true devotion to his lord and master that when he awoke, he shared these visions of greatness with the Gaur, instead of coverting the power for himself.

The Anarch commanded Vash to take a fleet and travel the galaxy, gathering to him these relics and technological horrors, so they might help bring about greater destruction in Khornes name. Many are the atrocities that Vash has conducted in pursuit of this mission, including the raiding of the inquisitional fortress of Halvas and the scouring of the shrine world of Minan II. Each victory bring many new converts to his cause and when he finally returns to the Sabbat Worlds, along with hellish devices of destruction, he will also bring with him thousands of fresh recruits to be inducted into the pact and ritually scarred upon the ancient power armour of Urlock Gaur.

His most recent mission sees him heading for the far flung world of Stygias, seeking the device known as the Amarth-Thame, or ‘Apocalypse Box’. Sealed beneath the surface, these devices pre-date mankinds ascent into the star and represent power the likes of which most mortals can only dream of. With that at their disposal, the Archenemy could easily seize victory in the Sabbat World Crusade, where they are being ground down by Warmaster Macaroths crusade. However, many other races are drawn to the devices psychic beacon. War on a scale rarely seen before has erupted on Stygias and only time will tell if Vash and his forces will emerge victorious...

The Blood Pact ready for battle in the name of the Anarch



Vash and his command staff