Introduction

When a Dark Eldar raiding force was trapped on a Tau moon with their only means of escape held by the Tau, they needed to get back before the portal closed. Thus the remaining Wyches and a few Kabalite warriors who had also come struck the Tau defense line. However, the Tau had been expecting a final attack...

Army Lists

Dark Eldar Army List

Laetramae's favored: Succubus Laetramae with blast pistol and agoniser: 100pts. 8 wyches with haywire grenades and hydra gauntlets lead by Furora, a hekatrix with an agoniser, mounted in a raider with a flickerfield and disintegrator cannon: 206pts. 5 wyches with haywire grenades and razorflails mounted in a raider with a flickerfield and disintegrator cannon: 140pts. 6 Kabalite Warriors: 54pts. Total: 500pts

Tau Army List

Han'alo's Men: Shas'el Han'alo with fusion blaster, missile pods, multi tracker and targeting array: 89pts. 3 Stealth Suits: 90pts. 12 Kroot: 84pts. 10 Fire warriors with photon grenades and 2 pulse carbines: 110pts. 12 Fire warriors: 120pts. Total: 493pts

Game On!

The Tau set up first, with the wyches failing to steal the initiative. There were 4 objectives. All the Tau set up on a hill bunched up closely with the kroot nearby in a forest, and the wyches were spread out: Laetramae with Furora's squad on the right flank and the other wyches on the left flank, with the warriors on an objective in the center of the deployment zone. The combat drug was painbringer, allowing all wyches to re-roll to wound rolls: very useful.

Turn 1

A Good Start

Tau turn 1: The Tau started the battle with a bang, immobilizing both Raiders and killing half the warriors, pinning the survivors. Meanwhile the Kroot and Han'alo stayed back, waiting for the counter attack. The fire warriors and stealth suits had proven their worth already, forcing the wyches to progress slowly on foot. Surely the wyches couldn't recover from such a powerful blow...

Wych turn 1: Yes they could! Laetramae led the way in a charge towards the stealth suits, rolling a 6 to run while the raider's night vision allowed it to target them and kill 2 straight away. On the other side of the field, the 5 wyches lept out of the raider straight at the kroot and volleyed a few shots before charging (the raider was stunned as well as immobilized so couldn't help out here). The battle on the right flank led by Laetramae was finished by Laetramae, pouring out 4 armor ignoring wounds into a one-wound stealth suit. They consolidated 6 inches towards the fire warriors. However, they were out in the open with 22 fire warriors and a stealth suit looking menacingly at them. The battle on the left flank took a little longer as only 7 of the 12 kroot were killed, but the wyches dodged all the attacks back and mercilessly cut down the kroot, consolidating into the woods to savor their pain token.

Turn 2

Massacre

Tau turn 2: With 16 pulse rifle shots, 2 pulse carbine shots, a fusion blaster shot and 2 missiles fired at the wyches, the least that the tau hoped for was for them to run away like girlies. However, Laetramae survived and didn't care in the slightest that Furora and her squad had been turned into kroot food. She took a wound which she promply saved with feel no pain, then passed her leadership test easily, getting a double 1. The other fire warrior squad probably would have shot her had they not already wasted their shots on the 5 wyches who were very close on the left flank, but who went to ground so that only 1 died. Suddenly the succubus was grinning, and the fire warriors weren't.

Wych turn 2: Laetramae was suddenly in action, failing to wound a fire warrior with the blast pistol somehow, but then cutting up 3 fire warriors and dodging all attacks back. The tau tried to run, but being initiative 2 against an enemy initiative of 8 really doesn't help, and they were kroot food cubes in seconds. This seemed to be proof that photon grenades are a fail. However, the succubus was out in the open again, and the tau weren't clapping her performance.

Turn 3

The Empire Strikes Back

Tau turn 3: Unperturbed that they were down to 2 squads, the fire warriors moved to rapid fire range with the 4 wyches on the left flank and Han'alo prepared to Mont'ka Laetramae into the ground. This he did, with a fusion blaster scorching the ground next to her while 2 Str 7 missles slammed into her back, each causing instant death. The fire warriors were less effective, firing 24 shots at the 4 wyches, of which 11 hit and 9 wounded... the wyches dived for cover again and, in a repeat of last turn only lost 1 man due to a lot of cover saves and feel no pain saves. However the failed their leadership test and fell back 6 inches...

Wych turn 3: ...Only to turn round again with an angry look in their eyes. However, they decided to be clever and stay in cover near the objective: the tau only had one objective claiming unit, while the wyches and kabalite warriors were both holding theirs. So long as they survived a few more turns with the raider's disintegrator cannon keeping them at bay, they could actually win this!

Turn 4

Last Man Standing

Tau turn 4: The tau saw straight through the plan and decided to charge. However they didn't see the part of the plan involving disintegrator cannons, and so moved easily into range. They fired another 24 shots, but due to terrible rolling, only wounded 3 times and one wych passed a feel no pain save. The wych could so easily fail the leadership check... the leadership 8 wych scored exactly that, meaning that she passed. Just. That was one amazing wych. On the other side of the battlefield, Han'alo stormed up towards the kabalite warriors, the fusion blaster just out of range and scorching the ground in front of them, but with 2 missiles slamming into the chests of 2 of the warriors, leaving small craters filled with ash. However, he forgot about his jet pack and so didn't move back out of range...

Wych turn 4: The 2 kabalite warriors advanced, making sure that Han'alo was in their sights (and rapid fire range) and fired, wounding it once. 2 more wounds needed. The disintegrator cannon fired at it. All missed. The disintegrator cannon on the other side of the battlefield opened up on the 12 fire warriors, firing 3 shots. All hit. All wounded. Now for the leadership check... the 2 dice rattled around the board, up the hill, back down it, nearly going off the side of the board. It seemed to last a year... Failed! The fire warriors ran off the board, leaving the Han'alo on his own and wounded. Now the wych was darting towards Han'alo, having seen the fire warriors fail and run away. She charged...just in range! She attacked 3 times, needing to wound twice. 2 hits. 1 wound, but the other was re-rolled because of the combat drugs... wound! But Han'alo had a 3+ save, surely he could save one of them? First one...2. Failed. Second one... he needed to survive this. Then he could crunch this wych's head off and charge the enemy once again, perhaps even take out the warriors...2. He was dead as a dead thing. Deader, even. Dead.

Results

Victory to the Wyches, although seeing as 13 of the 14 wyches died, victory to the wych. When she gets back in Commoragh, she will probably become a hekatrix. Or something. Anyway, a very tense battle for a 500pts 4-turn game.

We'll Have our Revenge!

As he watched the attackers disappear into the portal, Han'alo looked at his wounds. He needed a doctor, but he'd be fine. And it wasn't all bad news. The earth caste had been able to look at the portal thing, even confirm that it led to another plane. And they'd built a replica. Far smaller, but it opened a tiny hole into the other universe. Han'alo felt sure that the time for revenge was soon. Very soon. He couldn't wait to hear the Ethereals' orders.

Model of the Match

Although many of the warriors did amazingly well, such as Laetramae and Han'alo, or even just the stealth suit and fire warrior who shot down a raider, the model that decided the final fate of the game was the last remaining wych, whatever her name and backstory may be. Well done her!