BOLTERCON 2023 Recap Part 1 - The Battle for Cypra Mundi
So we did it – BOLTERCON 2023 is in the books and now all that’s left is the recappin’. As far as we know, everyone survived and had a great time! As always, we’re looking for your feedback on the event so please hit us up at info@boltersatdawn.com with your thoughts and/or come find us in Discord.
Is this the end, or is this the beginning?
Over the course of four days and several events (I count 8? 9?), there is a lot to cover. We’re going to start off by handing things over to our very own Hype & Morale Officer aka Alex to give us the nitty gritty on The Battle for Cypra Mundi, which was our big narrative event for The Horus Heresy aka 30k.
Without further ado, let’s dig on in.
Known Forces
Jarl Tyrr-Bladehand’s 4th Great Company
While en route to join the rest of the Vlka Fenryka, The 4th Great Company led by Jarl Tyrr-Bladehand intercepts a message of a pending Traitor attack on the Forge World of Cypra Mundi. Still bitter and angry at the losses felt on Prospero and the following Battle of Alaxxes Nebula, the 4th Great company sets its course to intervene and settle bitter rivalries against the traitors’ forces at Cypra Mundi. Specializing in the use of Bloodied-Claw tactics, the 4th company is known for harnessing a variety of armaments for soaking their blades during the murder-make with the traitor’s blood.
Captain Larkin Barry’s 201st Legion XVI Company
A company of the Sons of Horus with a House Aerthegn representative. Leadership consisted of Chaplain Ananiel Asborn and Master of Signals Nyland Griff. The 1st and 2nd cohorts made up the main infantry. Various elements of Justaerin, mobile weaponry, and a Land raider spartan make up the remaining.
Varro’s Crimson Harriers
Raven Guard elements with unknown loyalty. Large force. Fragment of Istavaan III.
Chaplain Thal Sobrek
Contingent of Word Bearers. Various chapters included The Flayed Hand and Graven Star. While Captain Zahra Ay led the force it is well known at this point the Word Bearers are influenced heavily by their Chaplaincy.
An Iron Warriors company led by Baleus Paultus
Baleus Paultus is the Forge Lord of the Iron Warriors Mechanized Company known as the “Iron Panthers”. He is a strong leader as formidable in intellect as he is in strength. Krios is not merely a warrior but a master of the Mechanicum’s dark arts, a savant of siegecraft and warfare whose strategic acumen is matched only by his technical prowess. His voice, deep and resonant, commands the respect of both the cold-hearted Iron Warriors and the arcane priests of the Omnissiah. With a mind as sharp as a power blade, he weaves plans that are both intricate and ruthless, a tapestry of warfare that leaves his enemies in ruin. As much a political figure as a military one, Krios the Unyielding understands the necessity of alliances, and it is his iron will that keeps the pact with the Mechanicum strong. His eyes, as cold and calculating as any machine, see through the fog of war to the heart of the matter, making him not only a leader of men and machines but a keeper of the Iron Panthers’ enduring legacy.
19th Order, lead by Erasmus Cullen
Broken, butchered, betrayed. The 19th Order of the Iron Hands was created on Medusa following the Dropsite Massacre of Isstvan V. THe failures of the Iron Hands were often delegated to the ranks of the Immortals – Stripped of individual and clan markings, and forced to engage in the bloodiest campaigns to absolve their weakness. Once the Dropsite Massacre left thousands of Medusans with a shattered will and psyche, entire Orders were formed of their ranks. Erasmus Cullen is the sullen, red-eyed, and indomitable core of the 19th, as he and his Order lash out at Loyalists and Traitors both in blind rage and grief.
95th Cyprian Artillery, 2nd Battery
Solar Auxilia Regiment left to defend the abandoned Ork town at all costs
Unknown Sons of Horus Company lost in the warp en route to engagement
Praetor Varag Tursk of the Sons of Horus has been waging a brutal war of attrition against pockets of the Shattered Legions near the Mordian system. His battle barge was crippled by Raven Guard saboteurs while his forces were distributed across the system. Left stranded and cutoff from elements of his full command, his shadow war ground on. By some luck, a Word Bearers vessel translated in system and was able to establish contact with Tursk. They offered his available forces passage to Cypra Mundi to bring the loyalists to open battle and truly strike a blow for the Warmaster. Time was short, so Tursk accepted so long as a beacon was left in-system to direct any of his remaining forces to regroup at Cypra Mundi by any means available. And so the Praetor, his honor guard of terminators and 30 battle brothers sought passage to the Cypra Mundi in hopes of reforging his splintered forces in the crucible of open conflict
Other forces include
Custodes
Ultramarines
Night Lords
Raven Guard
Mechanicum
Iron Hands
Initial Contact
Streaks across the sky. Dust kicked from the thunder and rumble of tread and shell. The hardened loyalists look out over their graveyard as the forces of Horus approach. Defenders of the Vox Gloriae grip their shields as the walls balk at the warp of weight from the landing craft.
A crack as a Word Bearer Spartan fires its lascannon at a stationary Ultramarine Rhino.
On the Badland plains of Cypra Mundi, elements of the Ultramarines and Custodes meet a force of Word Bearers and what appears to be Raven Guard.
From initial intelligence, Baleus of the Iron IV orders counter battery fire on the unsuspecting 95th Cyprian Artillery, 2nd Battery. Fire is returned in short order according to the rules of war as they defend against the terrors of the night. Baleus looks across the field at the legions of Iron Hands and their lackey Mechanicum allies. However the weight of the machine began to weigh on the Forge Lord’s shoulders.
Wolves, locked in a fight for supremacy, takes place in the industrial wastes of Cypra Mundi. The 4th Great Company meets the 201st Sons of Horus on the field. The ground trembles from the steps of House Aerthegn as it marches towards its threat, the Cerebus Heavy Tank Destroyer. Using speed it pierces the Cerebus after locking it in glorious combat. Elsewhere, two Contemptor Dreadnoughts fight for supremacy. Fitting for the veterans on the field. Meanwhile Theign and Varagyr cut a bloody path through the 201st Company Sons of Horus. Two champions of the 4th.
The Unspeaking chapter of the Word Bearers delivered a unit of Cataphractii Terminators on the flanks of the Badlands loyalist coalition. Edonitous the Dread retreats from this aggression to find better footing.
A Vindicare assassin embedded in the Custodes force identifies two targets and executes their mission with deadly accuracy. Thal Sobrek of the Word Bearers host and Varro of the Crimson Harriers lie dead in the aftermath.
Ash blows all over the abandoned Ork town as the Raven Guard and 95th stand against the screaming terror of the Night Lords. Two unnamed champions meet on the field with no clear winner as they both succumb to their wounds. Mor Deythan of the Raven Guard dispatches the Night Lords Contemptor as it marches forwards through the haze of ash.
A lack of motivation leads to early and significant Traitor losses on the Vox Gloriae. The Loyalists gave no inch of the ship to the forces of Varro or Larkin Barry. The traitors relied on cunning to their doom.
Engagement
As the forces of good and evil become hopelessly locked in combat the legions best come forward. A Shield Captain of the Emperors Custodians bests Zahra Ay, a captain assigned the Word Bearers host. Elsewhere Shield Captains forces wade into the mass of bodies thrown by the Word Bearers and Crimson Harriers.
Meanwhile in the Badlands, The Ultramarines Edonitous the Dread stood against the mass of traitors. Under a hail of fire from the Levitation Storm Cannon he laid low a Word Bearers Contemptor. Having dispatched this unworthy foe he turns his attention back to the terminator squad on his flank and re-engages them.
With the Vox Gloriae protected by the Emperor’s forces, Ultramarine reinforcements are dispatched to help defend the Badlands. A squad of Invictarus Suzerain were delivered by a Storm Eagle to begin assaulting the Crimson Harriers flank.
Elsewhere, ash storms were kicked up in the abandoned Ork town from ages ago. In the darkness, the Night Lords crept. From this night a Raven Guard contemptor patrols their sector of the battle as an ambush is set by Night Lord Tartaros. The leader of the Night Lord terminator squad met his doom in single combat with the Contemptor. As the ash storms intensified, all signal and intelligence from this sector was lost.
Meanwhile in the snow covered ruins of Sector A-76 the boom and rattle from Forge Lord Baleus’s Earthshaker batteries left the snow quite disturbed. As Baleus strides forward confident in his host, an unknown Magos from the Mechanicum steps forward. Single combat ensues as the snow whirls around them. As the snow settles on the body of Baleus the Iron Hands and Mechanicum press forward. Mechanicum Secutors proved to be faithful assets to the Emperor’s mercy as they cut down the Iron IV. Despite Loyalist losses guns of the IV grow quiet and the snow covers the graves of those decimated in combat.
The might of the Sons of Horus proved to be too great for the Great Host of Leman Russ. The assistance from House Aerthegn proved to be a valuable asset.
As the battle for orbital supremacy raged, the remnants of once great warships fell to the plant. The Badlands were hit particularly hard and due to the mass of infantry experienced the most casualties from this deadly rain of adamantium.
With the Overlord class Vox Gloriae being defended by the Loyalists a call comes in with coordinates. A member of the Iron Hands is able to quickly enter the firing solution before returning to the defense. Due to the low orbit of the ship the shot was fired within the planet’s atmosphere. The boom from the Macrocannon cracked mountains with the heat of impact boiling oceans. The devastation was unleashed on the Badlands and fell over the Word Bearers and Crimson Harriers.
Result
As the battle raged clear victories and defeats began to emerge. The Iron IVth lies decimated at the hands of the Mechanicum and Iron Hands deployed to that sector. Those two forces begin redeployment operations to assist in other sectors. The 4th Great Host of the Space Wolves legion lies broken as the 201st Company Sons of Horus begin cleanup operations and intelligence gathering of future deployments. The Night Lords plaguing the 95th and Raven Guard slink back into the darkness to regroup. The Vox Gloriae is held firm by the Loyalists and Edonitus the Dread stands against the tide of traitors.
Only time will tell the fate of Cypra Mundi.
Writers Note
There were so many great pictures and so much story captured it was difficult to add it all or even capture it all. In this document I tried to use the story I had and the pictures that helped that part of the story. This was a wonderful event and I loved the narrative everyone wrote and the participation everyone showed. I learned so much running this and look forward to creating more narrative events to get great stories and pictures from.