Sherman Bishop wrote:
> Allow me to say I have been a recipient of this most heinous act. When
> my standard marine enemy learned that nearly every ork was unprotected
> from the blinding effects of the conversion/rosarius fields he took off
> on it. In one game three rhinos plowed into my lines and
> unceremoniously bounced a 2 wound, or better, chaplain out the door. The
> resulting super huge blind blasts blinded about 60% of my army.

And why stop there, I ask. Surely the Imperium would have thought about using this tactic on a more strategic scale....

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The Thunderhawk gunship Indignant Fire shuddered slightly as the Crimson Fist pilot coaxed the massive machine through the increasingly turbulent atmosphere. The pilot flexed a part of his black carapace implant, and opened a communication channel.

"As the Emperor wills, we are ninety seconds from the target."

In the cramped passenger compartment, Carsicus, the Chaplain of the 6th Company paused in the middle of his prayers to acknowledge the message.

"Understood. The Emperor guides my hand."

Carsicus stood and allowed the Techmarine to perform a final check on his armor's systems. He knew that all the mechanisms were working well; he had inspected them fifty times over the course of the previous day. Purity seals hung from the shoulder-plate under the glossy symbol of the raised Fist. The Apothecary had pronounced him fit an hour earlier on the chapter's battle-barge.

Satisfied, the Techmarine stepped to a control board and extended an interface-probe. The gunship's anterior hatch slid open to revel the cloud-cloaked landscape blow. For a second, both marines were buffeted by howling winds before the pressure-regulators kicked in.

"The Indignant Fire is moving at sonic speeds, Chaplain." The Techmarine's eyes were hidden behind his helmet, but Carsicus could sense them glittering in anticipation. "You will strike the primary target at just under the speed of sound as the air resistance slows you. Your impact should be sufficient to engender a blast several kilometers in radius as your conversion field is activated. Our assault force will take advantage of the Ork's blindness to secure the objective and cleanse the area."

Carsicus nodded. His mission was clear and familiar, but it comforted him to hear the Techmarine speak it again. Frowning, he mentally checked himself for heretical thoughts or cowardice, but found only apprehension - which was weak - but not strictly forbidden by the Emperor.

"Primary target mark in five seconds," said the Techmarine, " three... two... one..."

"Semper Fidelis," said Carsicus as he stepped through the hatch and was swallowed in the rush of clouds and wind.

The Techmarine looked down at the hatch and a part of his enhanced system counted silently. At twenty-eight seconds, the world outside the Thunderhawk was swallowed in blinding white. The Techmarine's armor compensated for the glare, but his own inner eyelid slid up involuntarily to protect his enhanced vision.

Years before, the Techmarine had suggested mounting a conversion field on a piece of inert ordinance for this mission, and had been sentenced to a month's penance for the heretical thought. The Emperor, Gulliman and the other primarchs had never mentioned placing a conversion field on anything other than a living marine in the Codex Astartes, so none would ever be.

The Techmarine muttered a prayer for the almost-surely-wounded Chaplain, now no doubt buried in the rubble of the Ork command post, surrounded by angry, blinded greenskins. He closed the Thunderhawk's hatch as he felt the Indignant Fire maneuver to begin the ground assault run.

Comments?
-Pat Marstall