Devastation of Baal
| The Devastation of Baal (First iteration) | |
| |
| Date | ~999.M41 |
| Scale | Planetary |
| Theatre | Third Tyrannic War |
| Status | Tyranid victory* |
| Belligerents | |
| Tyranids | The Imperium of Man |
| Commanders and Leaders | |
| The Swarmlord | Dante, Gabriel Seth, Ercon, Scaraban, Erden Cleeve, Follordark, Sentor Jool, Kaan, Raxiatel, Zedrenael, Zargo, Sendroth, Hajjin, Quaeston, and later Roboute Guilliman |
| Strength | |
| Hive Fleet Leviathan | Blood Angels, Flesh Tearers, Knights of Blood, Blood Drinkers, Carmine Blades, Angels Encarmine, Angels Excelsis, Blood Swords, Sable Brotherhood, Angels of Light, Flesh Eaters, Charnel Guard, Golden Sons, Angels Penitent, Sanguine Host, Angels Glorious, Burning Blood, Brothers of Jarad, Blood Wings, and Angels Vermillion Space Marine Chapters, Legion of the Damned, and later forces from the Indomitus Crusade |
| Losses | |
| Very high | At least five Chapter Masters killed, Angels Excelsis, Golden Sons and 6 other Chapters destroyed, 6 more Chapters almost wiped out, remaining Chapters reduced to less than half of their number, all but 1 of the Sanguinary Guard |
| Outcome | |
| *Battle inconclusive; interrupted by the formation of the Great Rift | |
The Devastation of Baal was a gigantic three-way free-for-all battle between the Imperium of Man, Tyranids, and (later) a whole fuckton of Daemons for control of Baal and its two moons. It was one of the most calamitous events of the Third Tyrannic War for all parties involved, and was directly affected by the galaxy-changing Noctis Aeterna.
Prelude
The Cryptus Campaign
In 998.M41, the Blood Angels led a spirited defense of the Cryptus System during a grueling campaign against the onslaught of Hive Fleet Leviathan. With the reputable defenses of the Cryptan Shield having been severely fucked by the Hive Fleet, Chapter Master Dante quickly gathered an alliance of his own chapter, the Flesh Tearers Chapter, dozens of Imperial Guard regiments, the Order of the Sacred Rose, an entire Imperial Navy Battlefleet, and even a force of Tempestus Scions. Despite this massive Imperial presence, the Cryptus System fell anyways in just two days. In the ensuing Imperial counterattack, Dante forged an alliance with none other than the Necrons of Anrakyr the Traveller, who happened to have been in the system awakening legions of the Mephrit Dynasty. Who the hell let Ward get his hands on this narrative!? Together, the Blood Angels and the Necrons managed to activate an ancient Necrontyr doomsday weapon called the Magnovitrium, which ignited the core of the gas giant Aeros to send a massive pillar of flame across the system, incinerating the Tyranid fleet as well as some unfortunate Imperial soldiers, citizens, Sisters of Battle, and Space Marines (of course, the Necrons phased out right before the weapon activated). With Hive Fleet Leviathan having been dealt a huge blow, as well as all of the biomass in the Cryptus System having been burnt to a cinder, the Imperial forces (or what was left of them) withdrew. However, the Cryptus Campaign only delayed Leviathan's inevitable advance towards Baal.
Imperial Preparations
Realizing the incoming threat, Dante forged yet another alliance of Imperial forces. This time, he gathered the support of all 20 Blood Angels Successor Chapters, barring the Lamenters (you can't hold it against those poor bastards; by this point they're severely mauled, and they couldn't reach Baal in time even if they were still surviving to begin with). Even the renegade Knights of Blood Chapter answered the call for aid, but they wisely decided to fight separately from their brethren. Dante launched pre-emptive attacks against Leviathan, and managed to inflict losses against hundreds of splinter fleets. When the main Hive Fleet reached Baal, a mixed fleet of the assembled Chapters' Battle Barges and cruisers launched salvos of nuclear-tipped warheads directly into the mass of organic ships, causing extensive losses amongst the vanguard of the Tyranid onslaught. But eventually, all of the Space Marines' vessels were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Hive Ships filling the space around Baal and its moons, and the Imperial forces on the ground could only watch as millions of living missiles began raining down on them past the wreckage of once-mighty Imperial ships.
The Battle
The Tyranids sent nineteen waves of merciless attacks, with each one being even larger than the last. These waves were driven off at great cost by the Imperial forces, with five Chapter Masters falling in these battles; three of the Chapter Masters were killed in the bloody Battle at the Dome of Angels alone. The Space Marines initially held their own thanks to recommissioning all of their powerful Heresy-era fortifications and weaponry, but the tide inevitably began to turn when the Swarmlord itself began leading the Tyranid hordes. Despite sustaining horrific wounds, Dante managed to slay the Swarmlord in an epic duel. Eventually though, as Baal itself was overwhelmed, the Tyranids began the process of draining the world and her moons of biomass, absorbing even the rad-poisoned desert of Baal Secundus. With the Imperial defenses falling little by little, the battered defenders retreated to the Blood Angels' Fortress-Monastery, with the planet close to destruction. But then...
| The Devastation of Baal (Second iteration) | |
| Date | ~999.M41 |
| Scale | Planetary |
| Theatre | Third Tyrannic War |
| Status | Imperial Pyrrhic victory* |
| Belligerents | |
| Chaos | Tyranids |
| Commanders and Leaders | |
| Ka'bandha | The Swarmlord |
| Strength | |
| Hordes of Khornate Daemons | Hive Fleet Leviathan |
| Losses | |
| All killed or retreated back into the Warp | Near-total annihilation |
| Outcome | |
| *Imperium claims victory with the mutual destruction of the Tyranids and Daemons; Baal and its moons are almost completely devastated | |
Daemon Ex Machina
It was at this moment that the Great Rift opened up like a massive black scar across the width of the galaxy, and a ravenous horde of Khornate Daemons surged onto the battlefield. They were led by none other than the Bloodthirster Ka'bandha, the archenemy of the Blood Angels and their late Primarch. In a voice that probably sounded like Satan gurgling melted iron and the souls of the damned, he declared to the Tyranids that only he had the right to destroy his hated foes. Probably pissed off even more than usual at this point since the Tyranids didn’t understand nor give a fuck about what he just said, Ka'bandha and his groupies surged in and began slaughtering Tyranids and Imperial defenders alike on Baal Prime. With the planet and its two moons now cut off from the greater Imperium, and with two absolutely insane combatants dunking it out on a planet covered with corpses, Dante and Chapter Master Gabriel Seth of the Flesh Tearers had no choice but to evacuate with any survivors. Their forces were only able to escape due to the bloodlust-fueled sacrifice of the Knights of Blood, who all gave in to the Black Rage and charged directly into the melee of xenos and Daemon, probably blaring hard metal from their voxes and screaming obscenities towards everything in their path. The last thing Seth and Dante saw before the ramps on their ships closed were their renegade brothers selling their lives in one last act of heroic badassery.
You’ve Heard This Part Before
Lo and behold, at the most dire moment for the Imperial forces, who else would show up but Papa Smurf himself, at the head of his merry little Indomitus Crusade. After a whole mess of battles, Baal was finally liberated. All of the Daemons either died under the guns of the Imperial reinforcements or fell back to the Warp. Ka’bandha, being the Daemonic yandere that he was, left a little gift for the Blood Angels in the form of his name on the now-barren rock of Baal Prime, formed from the skulls of hundreds of millions of Tyranid bio-organisms; it was the only trace the Imperials ever found of Hive Fleet Leviathan.
The Aftermath
With both Baal and its moons now thoroughly fucked (well, the moons were just fucked more than they already were), Guilliman and his allies immediately got to work helping his red-armored comrades rebuild their shattered home. Once they did what they could recovering from such a disastrous battle, the Blood Angels and their remaining Successor Chapters quickly set off to other Imperial warzones that were in desperate need of assistance, vowing to mourn their lost brothers at a later time. Speaking of which...
The Imperial Dead
This is a list of all the total Imperial casualties of the complete battle. They will be sorely missed.