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The once proud Imperial city lay in ruins.
A week ago this vibrant trade hub had fallen prey to a vicious ork WAAAAAAGH!! that nearly overran the planet, but Imperial Guard divisions quickly mobilized and, with the help of the Blood Angels, stopped the ork’s advance.
They are currently in the process of pushing the green skins out of the city in bitter street-to-street fighting.

During the counterattack, though, constant bombing had revealed hidden tunnels underneath the city. Tech Priests and their attendants were deployed to explore these tunnels, but a series of Eldar raids prevented them from doing so. Imperial Command concluded that the enemy was guarding some secret held within the catacombs, perhaps a weapon or lost technology. A request was sent out to the Blood Angels to protect the Priests as they conducted their investigation.

A small reconnaissance force of marines lead by Chaplain Priscus Quintillus leaped from rooftop to rooftop, patrolling this sector of the shattered city.
They rocketed through the night sky like crimson angels of death, watching and waiting for any signs of Eldar activity.
The company landed on the roof of a broken administration building and observed their surroundings.
Guns boomed in the distance as tracer fire sparked sporadically on the horizon and Thunderhawk transports streaked across the starry sky. Dawn was approaching, but still no sign of the Eldar.
A communiqué from command called in his ear:
“Xenos spotted near your position.”
Quintillus smiled grimly and raised his power weapon, a heavy mace that crackled with blessed electricity.
“Come , my brothers! The time has come to strike the alien with our righteous fury! To the skies!”
Igniting their jet packs, the Blood Angels flew off to battle.

Webway portals opened in a part of the city far away from the main fighting. Yellow and blue armored Guardians darted out of one portal, scanning their surroundings with their shuriken catapults at the ready.
The last figure to emerge from the portal was Farseer Caila, adorned in a matching flowing robe and glittering gems.
Marching out of the webway to their left was Spiritseer Eibhear leading six Wraithguards, whose large guns hummed as if barely containing the violent energy held within.
“Remember,” Caila said to her warhost through a psychic link, “above all else, the Mon-Keigh must not release the horror that dwells beneath our feet.”
Sensing a disturbance in the warp, she closed her eyes and peered into the immediate future.
“Our presence has been detected. Quickly, Guardians,” she pointed to the remains of a nearby building, “garrison that structure so we may properly welcome the humans.”
The squad did as they were told, but Caila was not truly worried. Although most of her warhost was still in transit to her position, she knew that her forces would be deployed in time to counter the Space Marine assault.
All she had to do now was wait…


This game’s mission was annihilation with a Dawn of War deployment.
I won the roll off to go first and deploy first. I deployed my two troops and HQ, but my opponent/rival kept everything in reserve for some deep striking action.
The Dire Avengers you see are proxy wraithguard.

Turn 1:
For this mission, we were given a special rule to use: Pick a unit in your army and roll a d6. 1-3 it can outflank, 4-6 it can deep strike.
I chose my Wraithlord and rolled a 4. Deep striking Wraithlord? Heck yeah!
I don’t imagine that this would be of any use to me in this game, but come on. When is the next time I’m going to deep strike a Wraithlord?
Uneventful turn because of Dawn of War deployment.
My Dark Reapers and War Walkers march onto the table. Because they have nothing to shoot at, the Reapers run into terrain.


Turn 2:
Cast fortune on Guardians.
Moved the walkers up a bit.
Wraithlord deep strikes on target. Woo.
More waiting on my part.


Blood Angels roll for their reserves, but even with their re-roll ability only one squad comes down near my guardians.
They light up my Walkers with melta guns, wrecking one and blowing off a gun from another.


Turn 3:
Caila smiled underneath her ghost helm. In their zeal to engage in battle, the humans had mistaken their coordinates.
Although one squad had actually landed on target, the rest of their forces were elsewhere, chasing after enemies that did not exist.
She regretted the loss of the Walker pilot, but now she had the Marines right where she wanted them.
She opened a mind link with the nearby Dark Reapers.
“Exarch,” she said, “teach these humans a lesson in the art of the Reaper.”
“Yes, Farseer,” came the guttural reply.
Across the street in the rubble-strewn park, the trio of black armored warriors with grinning skull helmets aimed their menacing reaper launchers at the squad of Blood Angels.
“Watch carefully, my students,” the Exarch said.
A withering barrage of missiles shrieked forth from the Exarch’s tempest launcher, arced in the sky, and fell on the Marines. The sergeant shouted at his brothers to take cover, but it was to no avail.
The Exarch used the ancient gun’s targeting system to guide each missile with surgical precision, popping the humans like bloody fruit.
All that was left of the squad was body parts and splinters of red power armor.
“It is done, Farseer.”


After shuffling my forces around a bit and casting fortune on my Guardians again, my Dark Reaper Exarch got off some marvelous shooting and wiped out the squad threatening my guardians.
Fear the Reaper…

Quintillus listened to the screaming of his dying brothers over his vox caster and felt his blood boil with rage. Their deaths would not go unpunished!
With the Eldar’s position confirmed, the remaining Blood Angels shrieked down from the rooftops as the morning sun bathed the battlefield in light.
Quintillu’s armored boots slammed into the pavement with a terrible crash, followed by the boots of his fellow marines.
He looked up and saw the Xeno filth huddled in an abandoned building with their leader standing among them.
“I see you, Eldar Witch! You will not escape the Emperor’s judgment!”
Punctuating the Chaplain’s cry were the cracks of the squad’s bolt pistols, but the Guardians dodged every shot as if they knew where each round was.
He then spotted the Eldar’s infamous Dark Reapers standing in the park.
“Death Company,” he barked over his vox, “cut down those Xenos before they fire again!”
More jetpacks roared overhead and the last squad landed behind the Eldar lines.
The Black Rage had whipped the marines into a berserker frenzy and they hurled themselves at the Reapers as soon as they landed.
The Eldar tried to parry the blows, but the flurry of power weapons overwhelmed them.






The rest of my opponent’s army dropped from the sky.
The Death Company charged my Dark Reapers and cut them to shreds.
Shots from other squad failed to hurt anything thanks to fortune.

Turn 4:
Caila opened her mind to the ever-shifting strands of the future to aid her Guardians. However, a face leered at her from the murky fog of the warp.
A face of an Old One.
She gasped as a hand reached out to grab her, but the protective runes of her Ghost Helm activated and whisked her back to the present.
“We can’t waste any more time here,” she shouted to the warhost, “the sleeper is waking! We must put down these humans before it is too late!”
Braving the dangers of the warp yet again, Caila ordered the Guardians where to shoot and commanded Eibhear to secure their flank.



“Behind us!”
The Death Company turned around and saw a wall of wraith bone constructs marching in their direction.
The towering Wraithlord raised its arms and jets of searing fire sprayed from its wrists, incinerating two marines.
The smaller automatons then raised their massive guns and fired. Bolts of irresistible warp energy tore apart those who were out in the open, leaving only one human standing.
The Wraithlord advanced to finish the job.
Completely consumed by the Black Rage, the lone marine bellowed a war cry at the Xeno monstrosity and charged; nothing else mattered to the marine as his vision turned to blood and fire.
He swung madly at the creature, but was cut in two from the shimmering wraith sword.



Guided by the Farseer’s vision, the Guardians opened fire on the marines in front of them with support from the nearby war walkers, dropping five to a withering hail of shurikens and lasers.
Caila knew that her Guardians were brave, but she also knew that they would not last long if the marines were to engage them in hand-to-hand combat.
She looked to the War Walkers and gave a quick nod.
“It shall be done, Farseer.”
The War Walkers charged the marines. In response, the humans took out their crude grenades and attempted to demolish the vehicles, but were crushed or kicked aside.
Caila hoped that would hold the marines until the rest of the warhost came to reinforce her position.





Crushed the Death Company and killed a surprising amount of marines to shooting and the War Walker's assault.
I was starting to feel comfortable as I was leading in kill points, 2-1, and that my enemy only had three models left on the table.

Turn 5:
Quintillus’ heart ached from the loss of so many battle brothers. Perhaps he had underestimated the Eldar’s strength. No matter.
If this will be the last time he will see the sun rise, then so be it; he will die screaming the Emperor’s name from his lips.
While ducking and dodging around the Xeno walker’s attacks, he felt the earth shake. He quickly glanced over his shoulder and spotted the wraithlord and its retinue of wraithguard coming closer.
He gritted his teeth. Damn these Xeno scum!
He turned back to the enemy walker standing before him. Filled with righteous anger, he charged forward and swung his mace, striking the vehicle right on the cockpit’s visor.
The glass cracked and the Eldar pilot rocked violently in his seat; the walker stumbled backwards like a drunk walking out of a bar.

Meanwhile, the two surviving marines danced around the other walker, trying to find a good opportunity to disable it with their krak grenades.
The walker stomped on one marine as if it were crushing a bug, but failed to notice the one behind it. The marine pulled the pin and hurled the grenade into one of the walker’s exhaust ports.

The vehicle hesitated as the pilot tried to assess what just happened.
An explosion tore apart the walker’s chassis, sending flaming shrapnel in all directions and turning the pilot into a puff of pink dust.

Quintillus continued to spar with the remaining walker. It struck out at him, but he was too slow to dodge.
The foot struck him square in the chest and knocked him onto his back. Fortunately, his power armor kept him unharmed, but the wind was knocked out of him.
He raised his head just in time to see the walker stand over him and raise its foot.

But then it stepped back and bucked from side to side as if trying to shake something off its back.
That something was the remaining marine, who had jumped onto it and was hanging on as if trying to ride some wild beast!
Quintillus blinked. I don’t recall ever seeing that tactic in the Codex Astartes, he thought.
The marine then clambered on top of the walker, grenade in hand.
“For the Emperor!”
The marine lobbed the grenade right into the war walker pilot’s lap then jumped off.
The pilot reached for the grenade in an attempt to hurl it away, but it detonated in his hands before he could do so.
The explosion left only the walker’s smoldering legs that quivered in the wind for a moment before collapsing to the ground.

The marine ran over to a stunned Quintillus and held out his hand.
“On your feet, Chaplain! We are not dead yet!”
Pride swelled inside Quintillus. He was in the presence of a true Space Marine.
He grabbed the outstretched hand and pulled himself up. Together, Chaplain and marine looked at the enemies before them.
“It has been an honor to fight alongside you, Chaplain.”
Quintillus nodded.
“Indeed. Now, if you’re done talking, we have Eldar to kill.”
Activating their jetpacks, perhaps for the last time, they charged.


My turn five only saw me moving my constructs closer to the fight while my walkers continued their assault against the marines, but only to be destroyed by krak grenades!
By his turn five, the score became 2-2 and he was ready to charge my vulnerable guardians. Needless to say, I got a tad worried!

Quintillus landed among the guardians and swung his mace in a wide arc, shattering the skulls of those unfortunate enough to be in its path.
His fellow marine landed next to him and buried his growling chain sword into a guardian’s chest, spraying Eldar blood onto his armor.
Farseer Caila stepped in front of Quintillus, raising her singing spear.
“You have lost this battle, fool!”
“A Space Marine does not know defeat, witch!”
The Chaplain swung at the Farseer, but the agile Xeno parried his blow and pierced his side; he screamed as the spear’s eldritch powers lanced through his body and seared his mind.
Caila sensed panic growing in the minds of her guardians, but with a soft psychic whisper she gave them the courage to fight on.


The marines killed three guardians in close combat while I put a wound on his Chaplain.
Fortunately, the squad held their ground with a leadership of 8.
We rolled to see if the game would end, but it was not meant to be.

Turn 6:
The wraithlord looked down at the swirling melee, anger rising at the sight of dead Eldar. It stomped forward to end the arrogant human’s assault, but stopped.
Despite the guidance of the spiritseer, the terrain before it seemed to fluctuate in a milky shroud as Eldar and human alike faded in and out like ghosts in a dream. The spiritseer struggling to correct its vision, but he was too slow.
Quintillus looked up and saw the monstrous creature hesitate. Emperor be praised! Perhaps there was still time!
Standing back-to-back with his marine, he swung his mace as his battle brother parried and blocked blows from the enemy’s exotic weapons.
A pair of guardians stepped in front of Caila.
“Protect the Farseer!”
The power weapon smashed into their blue helmets, dropping them to the ground. Caila stabbed at the Chaplain again, but this time the spear tip did not pierce the human armor.
Just then, a vision flashed across her mind: a vision of death.
Eldar death.
She cursed herself for not seeing this sooner.
“Withdraw,” she ordered the warhost, “withdraw before we are undone.”
Webway portals opened in the street behind them.

“Look, Chaplain,” the marine shouted, “the Eldar run!”
Quintillus could not believe his eyes. The Xenos were retreating!
All the guardians had disengaged from them and ran for their portals while Caila stayed behind to cover their retreat.
Once the warhost had made good their escape, she leapt back from the Chaplain and pointed at him.
“Listen well, Mon-Keigh,” she said, “if you value the existence of your species then you must not awaken the horror that lies in the catacombs!”
Quintillus laughed.
“Do not try to sway me with your lies, alien!”
“Very well. You have been warned.”
The Farseer then turned and vanished into the portal, which closed behind her.


Because my guardians were blocking its way, the wraithlord could not close in to assault (I also forgot to charge the wraithguard, who might have been able to get in).
The marines killed more guardians, but thanks to the Farseer’s leadership their morale held.
Unfortunately, though, the dice roll at the end of the turn ended the game.
Final score was: Eldar-2, Blood Angels-2. A draw.

Breathing heavily, the Chaplain looked at the carnage around him. More marines laid dead than Eldar. Was this a victory? Perhaps.
They prevented the Xenos from raiding the Tech Priest’s camp again, but they will surely return.
He winced as he put a hand to his bleeding side.
“Next time we meet, witch, you will not be so lucky.”

“Chaplain! Look! The skies!”
Quintillus turned his gaze skyward and smiled. Blood Angel drop pods plummeted from the heavens and struck the ground around them.
Their ramps opened and spilled forth their cargo of dreadnoughts, terminators, and marines.
Sergeant Cassius of the 3rd company approached with a full tactical squad behind him.
“Hail, Chaplain,” he said, “we heard that you were being overwhelmed by the Eldar and came as quickly as we could.”
“Well met, Sergeant. Your assistance is greatly appreciated, but I am afraid that the Xenos have retreated.”
“Yes, no doubt frightened off by the sight of our drop pods. We will continue to secure the area and look to our dead. In the meantime, I suggest you get yourself to the medicus.”
Quintillus turned to look at the only surviving marine of his patrol.
“That was impressive work back there, marine.”
“Only doing my duty, sir.”
“Yes…duty. Sometimes fulfilling your duty comes at a terrible price, but as Space Marines we press on no matter the cost. Remember that.”
The marine paused for a moment then said,
“What of the Eldar witch? What if she is right?”
“Listen not unto the alien, my brother, for their words are nothing but lies. Even so, if we do find something in the tunnels, then we will stand against it and kill it. Faith and duty, brother…faith and duty.”
A thunderhawk transport swooped down to pick up Quintillus as the sun climbed higher in the sky over the war-torn city.

Overall, this was a really good game. I absolutely love dark reapers. Sure, they are expensive and can only be fielded in small squads, but tempest launcher + crack shot =monster killz. I was hoping that my walkers would tie up the marines until my lord could turn them into paste, but, lo and behold, they turned the tables with some lucky krak grenades! The terrain and the placement of my guardians prevented my wraithlord from joining the assault at the end, but no matter. I believe I still gave my opponent a rather good thrashing anyway.

Next episode: The Sleeper Awakes

Good report, cant wait to read another.

Haha, great to see those dark reapers wrecking BA. The unit actually has lots of problems in an all-round list, mostly just too vulnerable and expensive - but tempest launcher + crack shot + deepstriking marines = dead squads.

Interesting

nice

Haha go eldar!

Hello, all.

FYI: TheWildHost has recently informed me that my list was illegal.
I was running the wraithguard as a troops choice, but only had 8 guard. The codex clearly states that a full squad of 10 is required. Oops!
Also, the second episode will be up as soon as possible. School started up again, so I've been busy this last week and a half.

I was on the other side of this game. Just to clarify the Death Company were actually Vanguard. Also first time playing a DoA list it was pretty strange.