The Battle of Shatter Ridge was a savage confrontation that occurred during the later stages of the bitter war for the Apostate world of Vraks in 927.M41. The battle was joined when an Imperial advance towards the Citadel of Vraks, undertaken under the cover of a dawn twilight shrouded in chemical fog, was unexpectedly met in no man's land by a huge Renegade counterattack of hellish war engines and heavy tanks, which resulted in one of the largest Titan battles of the war.
The Imperial forces in the field consisted of a powerful Legio Astorum Ventarri Titan Maniple supported by heavy armoured elements of the Death Korps of Krieg's 8th Assault Corps. The Chaos forces opposing them were composed of corrupted Titans from the much feared Legio Vulcanum I leading a counter-attacking spearhead of Renegade super-heavy armour, mobile ordnance and Armoured Fist squads, and for one of the first times in the long Siege of Vraks campaign, an infernal Brass Scorpion of Khorne.
The battle was short but costly for both sides, with the Chaos forces using the cover of the poisonous fog to advance swiftly and engage at close quarters where their furious assault wreaked havoc on the Krieg armoured forces. The Imperial Titans however, swift and skilled enough to respond to the enemy's attacks, reopened the gap between them and their devastating Turbo-Laser fire quickly accounted for the destruction of a Chaos Reaver-class Titan, a Warhound-class Titan and numerous tanks, forcing the Traitors' withdrawal from the field.
The Imperial victory proved pyrrhic, however, as they had lost a Warhound and sustained heavy damage to the rest of their Titan force, whilst the Krieg contingent had been all but wiped out.
Order of Battle[]
Imperial Forces[]
- Invigila Alpha – Reaver-class Titan
- Praetorian – Reaver-class Titan
- Avernus Maxima – Warhound-class Titan
- Triarii-Dexter – Warhound-class Titan
- Canis Secundus – Warhound-class Titan
- Shadowsword Detachment – Three Shadowsword super-heavy tanks
- Stormsword Detachment – Three Stormsword super-heavy tanks
- Maharius Detachment – Three Macharius Heavy Tanks and a single Macharius Vulcan heavy tank
- Demolisher Squadron – Four Leman Russ Demolisher battle tanks
- Bombard Battery – Two Bombard mobile artillery vehicles
- Grenadier Assault Force – Six Death Korps of Krieg grenadier squads in Centaur transports
Chaos Forces[]
- Nightmaw – Reaver-class Titan
- World Burner – Reaver-class Titan
- Skathraus – Warhound-class Titan
- Woe of Malcus – Warhound-class Titan
- Carnophage – Warhound-class Titan
- Stormblade Detachment – Three Stormblade super-heavy tanks
- Malcador Squadron – Four Malcador Assault Tanks
- Gorescuttle – Brass Scorpion of Khorne
- Vanquisher Squadron – Four Leman Russ Vanquisher main battle tanks
- Medusa Battery – Four Medusa Siege Tanks
- Armoured Fist Assault Force – Four Vraksian Traitor Militia squads in Chimera transports
Sources[]
- Imperial Armour Apocalypse 2, pp. 88-89