Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 238: The Tianshi Regiment's Battlefield Duty

The mission that the Celestial Lions were responsible for did not seem to be a difficult one, it was just to clean up the wreckage of a building left behind by the Necrons.

But even a destroyed Necron Macro-Tomb is no target to be taken lightly.

This ruin, lying across the battlefield, was once a massive Necron defense structure.

Its remaining living metal structure is still slowly wriggling, trying to repair the damaged structure, but due to the depletion of energy, it can no longer recover.

This facility itself is a nearly indestructible fortress, designed from the beginning to withstand the dual test of long time and brutal battles. Therefore, it has its own power supply facility to provide energy for the repair of living metal.

But now it has been completely destroyed by a powerful attack, and this macro tomb has fallen into silence.

They are usually placed at the outermost boundary of the tomb complex, guarding the deeper secrets like a steel wall.

Deep underground in the Macro Tomb, there is a connection to the Necrons' true core facility - the Stasis Tombs where countless warriors sleep, the Underworld Foundry continues to produce war machines, and the Tomb Center controls the entire defense system.

When invaders go to great lengths to break into the Grand Tomb, they often discover that these ground buildings are just the tip of the iceberg of the entire Death Empire.

In essence, the Macro Tomb is more like a sophisticated war machine than an ordinary building.

Its living metal structure can not only repair itself, but also provide rebirth protocols for the Undead Legion stationed on it; the transmission nodes scattered throughout the fortress allow the army to move freely within the fortress, making it have the dual functions of a defensive fortress and a strategic hub.

For the Imperial Expeditionary Force, attacking such a complete macro-tomb would be tantamount to suicide.

In the early days, there were indeed some commanders who did not believe in the evil and tried to attack by force, but after paying a heavy price, now all the front-line commanders’ first reaction when seeing Hongmu is to call for heavy fire support.

Whether it's a cluster of super-heavy tanks, an Astra Militarum artillery position, or orbital bombardment, any means will be used to destroy it.

But even the remains of the destroyed Hong Tomb still show amazing structural strength.

Those twisted yet intact living metal components held an irresistible attraction for the researchers of the Mechanicus.

What’s even more terrifying is that when the remains of multiple large tombs are combined together, they may re-form a larger defense system known as the “City of the Dead”.

(This is a discontinued Macro Tomb, but it's a playable unit, worth 730 points. It has two turrets, and you can add three turrets, one large and two small, for free. When you combine four of them, you get a 2000-point City of the Dead.)
(This is the thing I inserted, the same out-of-print item)
(Another type of turret)

There is no doubt that the expeditionary force encountered stubborn resistance from the City of the Dead and the Macro Tomb more than once during its advance.

These death fortresses built of living metal stood like an iron wall across the attack route, becoming the main reason for the expeditionary force's initial poor progress.

The strength of these defenses far exceeded the imagination of the human empire. When faced with the towering macrotombs and the undead legions pouring out of the portals inside them, ground forces often had to pay a heavy price to make any progress.

Even the most elite Astra Militarum regiments often suffer casualties of over 50% when attacking a complete macro-tomb - and this is the result under the premise of timely fire coverage from heavy artillery clusters or successful call for orbital bombing support.

As for wanting to destroy a macro tomb by relying solely on conventional firepower such as armored vehicles and company-level heavy weapons?
That is simply a fantasy.

The city walls made of living metal can quickly repair damage, and the energy core hidden deep within the building is heavily protected.

The Tianshi Regiment participated in several assaults on the Hong Tomb, which were desperate missions to take out these death fortresses in the absence of heavy firepower support.

Anatoly still didn't want to recall the horrific scene at that time - even for the superhuman warriors wearing power armor, it was a nightmare. Under the intensive phaser fire and the siege of endless Necron warriors, even the Astartes suffered unacceptable losses.

The tactic the regiment finally figured out was to send an elite squad to raid the energy core: one tactical squad had to draw the firepower while the other squad took the opportunity to break in.

Even if they successfully approached the target, the soldiers still had to install the thermo-melta bombs under a hail of bullets and a steady stream of enemy reinforcements.

Behind every successful explosion are the sacrifices of several soldiers.

Since joining the expeditionary force, Anatoly and his company have lost nearly one-third of their battle brothers.

Such casualties would be devastating for any Astartes Chapter, but Anatoly was full of gratitude towards Chen Xi.

He knew clearly that this was the result of Chen Xi's deliberate protection.

In those brutal battles to siege the Grand Tomb, as long as Chen Xi intended to do something - even just a delay in artillery support, or a coordinate error in orbital bombardment - it was enough to keep an entire company of Astartes on the battlefield forever.

This is not alarmist talk, but a cruel reality.

Although the Space Marines are powerful, they are still flesh and blood.

After all, this is the 40k Warband era, not the 30k Legion era of the Great Crusade.

At that time, the Space Marine Legion had a complete system of heavy equipment and could fight any enemy on the front battlefield.

But all that changed when Roboute Guilliman implemented the Codex Reforms, splitting the Legions into Chapters.

Today's Astartes are more likely to carry out special operations in the form of small teams. Although this has improved their tactical flexibility, they have also lost their ability to sustain combat on the front battlefield.

Even more fatal is the reduction in the size of the regiment.

A mere thousand men meant that any significant casualties would severely damage the regiment's vitality.

Looking at the entire expeditionary force, the other participating regiments were not much different from the Tianshi regiment. Some weaker regiments even had to withdraw from the battlefield because more than half of their strength was casualties.

In contrast, although the Tianshi Regiment suffered heavy losses, it at least maintained its full combat effectiveness.

In this cruel battlefield, it is a great fortune to be able to have two-thirds of the brothers come back alive.

After all, considering the powerful enemies the expeditionary force faced and the intensity of the combat in this expedition, the casualties of the Tianshi Regiment can only be regarded as normal losses, and the losses are not even considered large.

He reported these situations to the regiment's top leaders and was still waiting for their response to Chen Xi's previous proposal.

For the Tianshi Corps, this is indeed a difficult decision.

However, just when Anatoly thought that today was just an ordinary security mission, the Mechanicus personnel who were conducting surveys under the destroyed Macro Tomb accidentally awakened a dormant Necrons creation, and the originally peaceful scientific expedition instantly turned into a tragic scene.

Anatoly had no time to hesitate and led his battle brothers from the Heavenly Lion Regiment into battle.

(End of this chapter)