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well, all shotguns was an idea, and it might well happen, as for the models themselves, their maily cadians, although i might have to include some catachan parts for veterans, just for individual heads and stuff

omg, that must be a sight to behold... 7,5k of guard, even elite guard in valyries is whole lotta minis
did he happen to play ride of the valkyries from mini-speakers installed on one valkyrie? razz

Star Ship Troopers, the place they have to defend, that's basically what it was. But with Tanks.
Opening of the Imperial Guard codex, to celebrate it, against the dreaded forces of the Hive Mind.
The Imperial forces lined up against the unstoppable horde were the following: Command Squad with General Rob, Commissar Lord Rico, Medic, Powersword and a couple of body guards.
Three Platoons of six squads, Two of them with 6 Special weapons attached. 1 Leman Russ Punisher, 1 Demolisher and 1 standard Russ.
Against us was the dreaded forces of the Spiderfex, a lot of Tyranids.
My forces were under Lieutenant Steve, a hard bitten soldier, who looked like a Master of Fleet, but he wasn't. Any ways, he had a power sword, an ancient heirloom from his noble house. He had his command squad, and the platoon under his command were all veterans, warriors of decades of warfare. Although I had no heavy weapon squads, I had the Punisher, and I was eager to test it out.

Objective: Protect the General until a Valkyrie arrived to extract him (Cued by Ride of the Valkyries music).

First round, a swarm of Gaunts, no problem for the gun lines of the Imperial Guard, and they were quickly destroyed. Second wave, Gaunts and Gargoyles, accompanied by 3 Carnifexs. Again, the Guard destroyed that wave with little difficultly, only loosing a small amount due to Fleshborer fire.
Third wave, this is where it started to get difficult, and men would start dying. Oh, Ride of the Valkyries also came on, so the transport came on 52" from the General. We had also been informed that Sly Marbo had been hunting something on this world, but we would find out soon. Around a hundred and fifty Guants, around 75 Gargoyles and 9 Carnifexs. After various orders and such, the Gaunts had been taken down to size, as with the Gargoyles, and five Carnifexs had been destroyed. Next turn, the Tyranids would hit the Guard line.

After another round of firing, and more enemies fell, but not enough for General Rob to know he had taken this victory. The Valkyrie drew closer, masterfully dodging various Tyranid fire, and was only one turn away from the commander.
The order was called 'FIX BAYONETS'. The call which all Guardsmen hated to hear when faced with Tyranids. Steve activated his power sword and held it up, as a beacon of light in the coming swarm of destruction. The first round of assault, the death toll was horrific, 75% of the Guard platoons were shattered, the defenders only managing to survive by the defence of their Commissar Lord and commanders, who stayed strong, even when faced with such casualties. The Commissar Rico realised that the General would be dead next turn, and this entire defence would had been for naught. Holding his power sword up high, he ordered a counter charge on the left side, opposite to Steve's platoon and Leman Russ. He gathered up seven members of a surviving squad, who had beaten down a Carnifex and charged a Gaunt squad, wiping that out. So there they were, stood in the middle of the Tyranid horde, all alone. But the distraction had worked, the next turn, another Carnifex charged the squad and Rico, who leaped a top the creature (Think Starshop Troopers) and planted a Krak Grenade deep inside its carapace, blowing it to pieces as the squad cheered him on, but then they were charged by another Carnifex, which Rico failed to detonate with a Grenade, and was eaten. And then the squad got slaughtered, but took a bloody toll with them! Heroes of the Emperor they were.

Mean while, Lieutenant Steve had joined the fray, him and the remains of Squad 2, with 9 men, charged a squad of Hormagaunts and fought them to a stand still, neither squad giving up as they tore into one another. Only three meters away from Steve, the Spiderfex, a massive monster of muscle and sinew, slashed through the Punisher, making it explode and slice 3 surrounding Gaunts apart.

The General was already backing away, towards the Valkyrie which had just landed, disgorging a squad of crack Storm Troopers, which casually dispatched a unit of Ravenors trying to creep around to assassinate the General.

But he would not escape that easy, and a beast appeared, coming up fro the ground. A Deathleaper, a horrible Tyranid strain of Lictor, ten times as deadly. It charged into combat with the Generals squad, and killed all but Rob, the body guards giving their life for their commander. All of the sacrifices would be pointless if the Deathleaper killed the General.

It was not to be so, as the Guards own Lictor, Sly Marbo, burst out next to the Lictor, quickly engaging it in combat and heavily wounding it with his poison blade, while he masterfully evaded the Lictors return attacks and ended its life promptly. As the General boarded the Valkyrie, Steve and the remains of his platoon watched the departing gunship from atop a heap of Tyranid and human bodies, seeing the other surviving Guardsmen. They had accomplished their duty, and had done marvellously and with courage even beyond the norm of Cadians, and had held the line long enough for their commander to escape. Now all that remained was a honourable death, and to take as many as the beasts along with them as possible.

For those that want to know, Steve personally killed 17 Guants, 6 Gargoyles and a Carnifex, which was on 1 wound, but still a feat none the less. He was then devoured by Spiderfex, who jumped on him off a building.

The ending is a bit on the sad side though. Why is it always just one evacuation bird and never a whole fleet? Such a waste of life! cry

A wonderful battle though, I would have loved to fight in that one on the Imperial side.

I was thinking of building a fortress onto my table, maybe convert one or two Fortresses of Redemption into a small keep of sorts.

The Fortress of Redemption is very Dark Angel and might limit conversion options. If you want to build a walled fortress or compound of sorts, why not go with a pile of Bastions? I've got a crazy idea that involves seventeen of the things and a few parts from the Sanctum Imperialis, maybe a pile of search lights from the Fortress of Redemption.

Better get saving then

Nope, all my money is gone, Christmas hit me with a vengeance.