North Vandea
North Vandea is a province on Kronus and one of the locations in Dark Crusade. It is the stronghold province of the Space Marines.
Description
Known for its harsh winters and hardy settlers, North Vandea is now home to the Castellum Incorruptus, a massive fortress from which the Space Marines of the Blood Ravens chapter launch their purge of the planet. The coast of North Vandea is battered by cold salt spray while winter snows lash inland. The Blood Ravens have practised a scorched earth policy in the region, leaving little but barren rock and ice before them.
Bonus
- +100 Planetary Requisition
- Eliminate the Space Marines from the game
Objectives
Primary
- Destroy the Blood Ravens' Fortress Monastery
Secondary
- Capture the Temple Ruins
- Capture the Orbital Relay
- Cut off Space Marine Reinforcements
- Direct Orbital Bombardment
Strategy
As the battle starts, make sure to capture the Strategic Points to the sides and build Listening Posts on them. You can go for the central one further up from your base, but refrain from building a Listening Post there, as that area will be under constant bombardment by Whirlwind artillery. The invading units will consist mainly of Space Marines and their First Company (Honor Guard) equivalents, as well as Scouts with different weapons. If you are able to build up a decent defense with turrets and infantry, you should be able to hold them off while building and upgrading your army.
If you are satisfied with your army's strength, take your commanders and units east to deal with the Orbital Relay and the additional Space Marine reinforcements, and leave your Honor Guard to deal with the western enemies and the occasional Skull Probe. In the east, station your basic infantry at the chokepoints to pick off attackers from their west and north; just be prepared to move them out of the way when Captain Davian Thule calls in an Orbital Bombardment. It will only target the general area of your units, so don't worry about your base. Take your commanders and elite units to the plateau where the Orbital Relay is stationed, and be ready to fend off the Land Speeders there. Destroy those, followed by the Space Marines, and capture the Strategic Point to take control of the building. At no point in time do you risk destroying the Orbital Relay; it is a neutral structure and cannot be destroyed, so feel free to use the Orbital Bombardment. The cooldown period is quite extensive, so use it only when needed.
In order to deal with the Whirlwinds, anti-vehicle units are vital. As Chaos, these would be the Horrors. Bring a unit of infiltrated Cultists to the foot of the platform that holds the vehicles and deep strike the daemons. The Whirlwinds will go down, but you will have to take the rest of the central plateau. Use heavy weaponry to take down the Assault Terminators and First Company Veterans there, then focus fire on Epistolary Antheas, the Librarian Honor Guard. Capture the Strategic point only after destroying the enemy turrets surrounding it. Build turrets of your own there, and do the same for the plateaus you take from the Space Marines.
Take your commanders and elite units to the northern plateau, breaking the defenses there before destroying the Chapter-Barracks and Machine Cult there, stemming the flow of reinforcements. Bring along a builder to make a Thermo Plasma Generator. Reinforce with turrets before heading to the fortress entrance and holding off the Space Marines there, while sweeping west using your central units. You won't have to worry about attacks from the easternmost parts of the map, only the west.
As you advance towards the Relic, be ready to eliminate the vast number of First Company Assault Marines that have been harrying your forces. Bring your Honor Guard from your base, along with a few vehicles. Once you have reached the ruins, get rid of the defenders there, then fire all weapons on Reclusiarch Mikelus, the Chaplain Honor Guard. Take the Relic, and the enemy will become susceptible to Morale damage. Bring a good number of your forces to the far west side to the area with a Thermo Plasma Generator. South of there is a Chapter-Barracks guarded by some Space Marines and two Dreadnoughts. Destroy all in the area.
It is now time to storm the fortress. Take your western units and bring them to the west entrance of the fortress, while your commanders and elite units enter from the east. Most of the Space Marine units in this area will have Apothecaries attached to them, but that should make little difference if your forces are strong enough. Capture the Strategic Points in there before making a final push north, where your leader has one final conversation with Davian Thule. Of course, the good Captain will be guarding the final area of his base, but it is possible to lure him out. Once you've finished him off, bring your forces to bear down upon the base. If you wish, you may destroy the structures within, but you need only destroy the HQ to win. This will drive the Space Marines from Kronus, eliminating them from the campaign.