The Indomitus Crusade Begins - Cerberus

Planet: Cerberus.
Region: Cerberus Sector.
999.M41

Death Guard vs Skitarii.
2000 points.
Mission: Contact Lost.

As part of the Domitus Crusade Guilliman leads the armies of the Imperium against the Death Guard held worlds of the Cerberus sector. Too long has the Imperium reacted when it should have been acting. The primary target is the world of Cerberus itself.
The Imperial flotilla translated into real space a week beyond the borders of the system. Firing their engines once they powered down all but essential systems and drifted through the outer dust cloud, through asteroid fields and past the three vast gas giants which give the system its name. Undetected by the orbital defence platforms the Imperial fleet was able to launch a surprise attack. Opening several holes in the orbital defences and allowing assault forces through to make planetfall.
The main targets at this stage were the power generators that fed the mighty planet's defences. While elements of the space marines struck at any, the vital task of capturing genertorium X334 fell to the Cult Mechanicus. Great landers descended under heavy fire to deploy the ground forces and launch the initial attack.

Round two of our current league and one of the last 7th edition battles I'll have (though our league will continue with 7th edition until completed). My opponent this round was Chris and his Skitarii. Last time we played he crushed me with ease so I was not hopeful going into this battle but as with all things you have to give it a good try.

The game started well and we were both able to knock hull points off each other's vehicles and one or two troops died. I managed to grab a couple objectives and Chris did likewise. Come turn two however and it all went to pot. He outflanked three units of Sydonian Dragoons and in this game they proved to be my undoing. I found it hard to balance going forward with protecting my rear. I did managed to grab three objectives in one turn however but it was as good as my game got this round.

Round three and the Dragoons had my chaos marines locked in combat. In once such combat my champion defeated his infiltrator champion and was elevated to daemon prince! But even he was not able to stop the Dragoons and died two turns later. This was really where the game turned in my opponents favour. He was slowly gunning down everything I had, including my terminators, land raider and the chaos knight! My poor chaos marines being fearless couldn't leave combat so sat there hammering away impotently as his forces snatched objective card after objective card.

When the game ended Chris had one 11 points to my 4. Close enough that I was reasonably happy with the outcome. The outflanking was what hurt me most. Those dragoons are very tough to deal with but as I had expected either Belasrius Caul or a Knight Atropos, I was pleased with how my marines held up under pressure.

With the chaos lord slain the few surviving Death Guard soon fell back into the ash swamps to undoubtably regroup. The other generator facilities had fallen as well and with them now fully in Imperial hands the remaining drop ships began to deploy the mainstay of the army. Facility X334 would become the command centre for the Imperial war effort.