The ruins of Golgotha stood before the Imperial army as the commissars barked orders, their voices distant compared to the thunder of the blackening skies.
'Tis a cold wind here.' Commented one of them, his junior officer nodding in agreement as he looked to the puddles across the streets, the ripples that flowed across them even after the leman russ had stopped moving. Distant thuds were closing, and the thunder rolled....
3000pts game between the Fredster 2000 with the Guard and myself with the Dark Eldar.
The board was quite terrain heavy, but with several open lanes of fire -
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/ ... 107001.jpg
The Imperial guard force:
Armoured fist company - inc supreme commander
Leman russ company - inc vanquisher, and armoured fist fire support contingent
Flak formation of 3 hydras
4 Valkyries with stormtroopers
Bombard formation of 3
Infantry platoon with Ogryns
3 Superheavies (2 shadowswords 1 baneblade)
Roughrider formation
The Dark Eldar:
2 Tormentor titans
Slavebringer + talos formation
Archon with Coterie formation
Dracon with syndicate formation
Syndicate formation
Ravager flotilla + Vessel of pain
Vessel of pain (independent)
Deployment:
The imperial guard concentrated their forces around the bombards, placing the leman russ centre flanked by both infantry platoons and the roughriders covering the hydras and Bombards from possible teleport attacks. The Valkyries took the far flank amidst the rubble fields whilst the superheavies anchored the other.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/ ... 107009.jpg
The Dark eldar deployed with intentions of a pincer attack, the Dracon leading the Ravagers and Syndicates to the flank against the Valkyries, whilst the Archon took the titans and the Vessel of pain facing centre left against the superheavies and the foot platoon.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/ ... 107008.jpg
Turn 1:
Initiative went to the Dark Eldar who immediately brought in the Talos by Slavebringer. Hoping to catch the guard... off guard.
Running directly up the flank of the board the Slavebringer avoided all the Hydras completely to land close enough to the baneblade to allow three of the four talos to engage it in close combat whilst the other fired its sting.
The initial assualt looked to be brutal with 3 macro hits scored and then all completely saved by the baneblade. Firefight back was also completely repelled by the Talos' thick armour and what little support fire there was from the infantry platoon was even less effective.
Drawn combat resulted and another round of attacks from the Talos saw 2 more hits bounce off the superheavies whilst the weight of firefight took out 2 Talos. Despite a close total, the Talos lost by 1 and were broken, losing the slavebringer.
The rest of the turn was far more cautious, with general advances on both sides into the ruins.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/ ... 107015.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/ ... 107014.jpg
An initial bombardment by the guard proving just in range of the lead syndicate and despite their cover, almost annihilated them. The surviving raider full of warriors fled for safety.
Sniping shots from the Titans and vessel of pain were completely inaccurate, but they approached close enough to seriously threaten the flank.
The Superheavies responded by charging up towards the two titans, opening fire on the first, stripping its shields and taking out great chunks of its hull. It stood bloodied but defiant, metallic screams of anger rising from its hull.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/ ... 107026.jpg
In an effort to emulate this success, the leman russ doubled against the Vessel of pain, but despite an ENORMOUS amount of firepower failed to do more than knock off a single shadowfield - much to the relief of the Vessel of pain.
Attempts to rally were mixed, the Talos failing to do so (as they did for the rest of the entire game) whilst their shell shocked syndicate comrades managed to snap to their senses.
Turn 2:
Initial setbacks looked as though they might blunt both sides of the Dark Eldar Pincer attack, but determined to try and outflank the Guard rather than engage them headon, the Dark eldar proceeded with the plan.
Firstly, the Vessel of pain withdrew into safety near one of the objectives, taking potshots at the leman russ and melting one into slag as it did so.
Determined not to lose the chance, the Archon retained and charged forward with both titans against the superheavies. The damaged titan made it swiftly into hand to hand, whilst the others could only get as far as firefight range. Despite this, the initial volley from Tormentor helms actually inflicted 2 points of damage! The Damaged tormentor then eviscerated the baneblade completely whilst the other finished off the damage done by the incubi. Return fire was neglible from the superheavies, merely pounding around the raiders as they swerved to avoid the hail of shots. However the infantry platoon nearby had more luck and almost completely destroyed the previously intact Tormentor!
Winning the fight and destroying the last shadowsword the entire group withdrew back into cover and away from retaliation.
Or so they thought.
A sudden bombardment almost finished off the previously healthy Tormentor, whilst the angered infantry platoon opened fire on the incubi. Despite the cover, the Incubi were annihilated! The Archon only survived thanks to his invulnerable save. The coterie promptly broke and fled to safety.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/ ... 107034.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/ ... 107033.jpg
The Guard were taking no more chances and proceeded to advance against the Dracons flank. The Armoured fist platoon doubled and deployed into cover, firing at the ravagers that were lurking ready to attack in the next turn but merely inflicting one blast marker.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/ ... 107030.jpg
Retaining the initiative, the Valkyries swooped in, dropping their stormtroopers directly in front of the platoon and assaulting the Ravagers. A fierce firefight ensued, with the first round inflicting almost no casualties (Both sides saving 5 hits!) The Dark Eldar had inflicted more damage, but numbers and the blast marker almost toppled the Dark Eldar morale. Fighting continued, but this time was far more brutal, the Stormtroopers losing 4 models, but inflicting two hits on the Vessel of pain with the ravagers. The Dark eldar lost on morale and broke, losing almost the entire formation as they fled, but breaking the Valkyries in turn.
The solitary surviving raider of the syndicate swept in to snipe at another of the valkyries as it fled, picking another one off via blast markers and making itself feel useful.
The leman russ advanced stoically, finishing off the broken ravagers as they did so before moving into position against the remaining vessel of pain.
The Dark eldar were looking extremely thin on the ground and even the dracons attempts to snipe leman russ failed miserably.
The Valkyries managed to rally and turned about to face their attacker.
Turn 3:
Initiative again went to the Dark eldar who tried to use the titans to hit the approaching leman russ with lance fire. The phantom lances again went wide in both cases, and the titans withdrew to cover.
The guard opened fire with the bombards, barely being out of range of the Dracon's syndicate (much to their relief). They then retained, using the valkyries to finish off the annoying raider that had slipped behind their lines.
The Vessel of pain opened fire, popping up to shot at the leman russ and melting two of them between the lances and the desolator. With their spirit broken though, the Vessel of pain couldn't move away from the objective without losing the game and stoically stayed its ground.
The Hydras quickly doubled towards the vessel, stripping its shields away with a barrage of fire.
The Dracon saw her flank had fallen and loaded her troops into the raiders, pulling back towards the titans to support the ailing left flank.
It was all too late however, as the leman russ swept in and opened fire on the Vessel of pain. Despite scoring almost no damaging hits they scored enough to break the thing, forcing it to flee or face destruction. Unable to prevent the guard from claiming a 3rd objective the Dark Eldar withdrew, swearing to return...
On a similar note the Ravagers are what they are and the stats are just pulled from 40K and interpolated for Epic. While there is usually some 'play' in how these are applied there isn't in this case. The disintegrators just won't reach that far (certainly not to 45cm).
