Nomus Rhy'tan - Battle for the Draconius Gate: Located in the Arridian Plaine, the bastions of the Draconius Gate was one of the new outposts created by Rhy'tan to defend Nocturne against invaders. The Gate itself owed its name to the impressive Drake heads carved into the granite by Nocturne's inhabitants and formed two rearing half-arks leading to the sacred ground under Mount Deathfire. The outpost's defences were most impressive -- heavily decorated, fortified bunkers linked between them and were void-shielded to resist any attack.Orbital defences and automated flamer-towers completed the static defences and made for a formidable obstacle -- as the Death Guard would soon find out. Their orbital bombardment was kept in check by the outpost's powerful void-shields. Frustrated, the Death Guard reverted to the use of concentrated viral and chemical bombardment.While the shells themselves exploded harmlessly on the void-shields, they released their murderous payloads inside the protected area, only to be burned at short-range by the flamer-towers and incendiary-squads. Through Rhy'tan's sense of timing and superlative commands, the Draconius Gate withstood the Death Guard's orbital bombardments without a single casualty.As the Death Guard began to land their troops, the outpost's anti-air and orbital weapons exacted a heavy toll, shooting down some of the Death Guard's Fire Raptors and Thunderhawks, while others crashed to the planet's surface, their turbines choked by the volcanic ash within Nocturne's atmosphere. But the Death Guard would not be denied so easily.Their relentless commander, Malig Laestygon, was determined to claim the honour of being the first Astartes to truly slay a Primarch. Quickly it became apparent that the Salamanders were greatly outnumbered and outgunned. The XVIII Legion possessed only three gunships which hadn't even taken to the air and there was no heavy armour support on the ground.Meanwhile, the Death Guard deployed several of the armoured battalions they were justly famed for -- great formations of Land Raiders and Sicaran Battle Tanks -- capable of overwhelming the void-shields through their superior firepower. However, the Death Guard soon came to realise they not only faced the gathered Salamanders and their impressive defences, but the planet of Nocturne itself.The landing zones chosen by the Death Guard accounted for the first casualties, as gunships and Drop Pods landed in magma-trenches or vanished in opening chasms. Some of the less fortunate were cooked alive within their own battle plate or their transports were caught in searing geysers of super-heated steam which erupted from Nocturne's soil. Any warlord trying to assault a Death World was a fool, even if that warlord was of the Legiones Astartes, but the Death Guard had always vaunted themselves on their tenacity and resilience and were confident in their eventual victory.It would just be harder fought than what they had initially anticipated. In contrast, the Salamanders knew full well what dangers lurked beneath the ground and eagerly anticipated the moment the Death Guard would realise it themselves, only too late. As the Death Guard's armoured battalions assembled, the seismic disturbance created by so many tanks awakened the aggressive fauna of Nocturne.Soon gnarlwyrms, urdrakes, basilysks, wyverns, drakons and targons spilled forth from their earthly domains and ran rampant amongst the Death Guard formations. The more massive gnarlwyrms charged the Sicaran tanks and Land Raiders, their horns more than able to rip asunder the tanks' armour, while the fire-breathing urdrakes burned legionaries and tank armour to molten slag. By now the XIV Legion's assault had been badly mauled, just as Nomus Rhy'tan had predicted.Seeing the Death Guard in disarray Rhy'tan ordered the void-shields lowered -- the Salamanders would take the fight to the enemy. Inviting Artellus Numeon to join him amongst the elite Firedrakes, Nomus Rhy'tan personally led the assault of eight hundred Salamanders. As the Salamanders closed with the Death Guard, the drakes of Nocturne let go of their prey, but left the Death Guard preciously little time to reorganise their ranks.While the Draconius Gate's Thudd Guns shelled the Death Guard's rear lines, a Talon of counter-charging Death Guard Contemptor Dreadnoughts were brought down by disciplined fire from both Lascannons and Volkite Culverines. Soon hand-to-hand combat ensued between the rival Legions, as overhead, the artillery duel between the two opposing forces continued until a large magma chasm opened up and swallowed a large part of the Death Guard's artillery-train.Meanwhile, the battle had quickly turned in favour of the Salamanders, and only Laestygon and his Terminator-bodyguard stood firm. Numeon faced Laestygon in single-combat and swiftly cut the Death Guard commander down. The Death Guard's assault had been annihilated, and soon Nocturne would swallow and destroy every sign of their enemy's presence.