A few weeks from now, the humans would remember that the doom of Naukratia came in shrieking on the wind.
Beneath his stormcloud-grey helm, Khaeron grinned a little at the thought as he clutched the barbed rails of the Raider, the familiar shriek of the craft’s engines reminding him of a tortured soul or a swooping bird of prey. The elegant skycraft was at high altitude, almost blending in with the dismal grey clouds of the world’s lower atmostphere as it glided down on planetary thermals. Around the Raider, more of the Revenant Shroud’s Raiders and Venoms glided downwards like a flock of arrowheads, swooping down towards this world’s exposed throat. Much of the human settlements below were already ruins and rubble, as the Revenant Shroud’s airforce had already done its work in shattering this planet’s meagre defences. All that remained was to pluck this planet’s offerings dry and take them back to the Shadowstone.
Times like this, in the calm before the storm, always made Khaeron’s blood pump with excitement. He wanted nothing more than to tear his helmet and feel the wind whip across his face—except that that old has-been Lorthaen would have that face shredded for such undisciplined behavior. It was all Khaeron could do to keep his excitement in check as the Raider raced groundwards. He could sense that his fellow Kabalites felt the same.
The only thing that bothered Khaeron about this raid, though, was the implications it might have for the House of the Revenant Shroud as a whole, even if it were successful (though “if” and “successful” never belonged in the same sentence as far as he was concerned). It was bad enough taking orders from arrogant lordlings and ladies like Zhael, or cowtowing to Rukifellith and the rest of his freakish brethren, but now the Revenant Shroud was starting to let outsiders lead its raiding forces. Only a week ago, a quiet, humourless Commorite woman named Yhrenna Snowblood had arrived in the Shadowstone, pledging her services to the Revenant Shroud. The entire house, of course, had begun to whisper that she was either in an agent of the upstart Vect, or worse, was on the run from him, but their whispers had turned to hushed silence when Lord Scyrex had given her a position of command. Either Lord Scyrex was finally beginning the slow decline into madness, or he had finally encountered someone who could manipulate him, or there was something else going on altogether.
Either way, the warhost was now being led by an outsider. The fact alone made Khaeron want to retch: up until now, the Revenant Shroud had been strong and self-sufficient in their exile. What sort of message did they send if they gave the Dark City’s refuse positions of leadership?
Khaeron shook his head and pushed his doubts to the back of his mind. Ghost-holos rasped into his headset, informing him that they would reach their strike destination soon. Grinning wolfishly, he unlimbered his splinter rifle and pricked his thumb into the spiked release, readying himself to jump over the sides and fire into the fleeing human herds….
The clouds parted, revealing the ugly, drab ruins of the human settlement, gothic arches and stern bronze eagles looking for all the world like a childlike attempt at being imposing. Except, Khaeron noticed, there were black figures milling in the ruins, along with the boxy outlines of vehicles.
His eyes widened, just as a crude missile came screaming up from the ruins below and detonated catastrophically with one of the Raiders, sending wreckage and flaming, screaming bodies plummeting groundwards. What on earth was this? The human defences should have been neutralized by their Razorwings! There should have been soldiers left to oppose them, no one brave enough to pull a single trigger in this world’s defence!
“Prepare to engage the Space Marines,” came Snowblood’s flat tone over the speakers. “I want these lumbering mutants taught the meaning of suffering.”
*****
From the view screen of the blessed Land Raider, Lord Mikkol of the Seekers chapter watched as the Eldar pirates came onwards, unfazed by the loss of one of their craft. They were bold and bloodthirsty, and obviously wanted to seek battle with him and his brothers. The Emperor’s chosen would be all too happy to oblige them.
Mikkol’s stern gaze tightened, the motion partially masked by his thick grey beard. Around him, his brothers, Sternguard Veterans of the First Company, did their final prayers and preparations the red flame motifs on their black armour seeming to glow in the ruddy light of the tank. In the foliage and ruined fortifications nearby, Seeker Tactical Squads and Novitiates lay ready with heavy weapons. But most importantly of all, airborne reinforcements were en route, carrying with them long-ranged weaponry and more honoured brothers of the First Company. Though the Eldar knew it not, they were flying headlong into the jaws of a trap.
The xenos would torment the world of Naukratia no more, he silently promised. True to their Chapter’s creed, he and his brothers had sought out the enemies of Mankind on this world, and here, they would face their judgement.
A few weeks ago, I played a very entertaining game against one of the semi-regular Marine players at my
LGS. I was meaning to turn this into a battle report for a while now, but since I had some delays and a bunch of other crap to deal with, this will now officially be my last battle report for 5th edition (even though I’ve played at least one game since then).
The game in question was fought at 2000 points, a game size which I rarely, if ever, play. My opponent wanted to go to that level, though, because he had quite a few Forge World goodies he wanted to use (which I was perfectly okay with). This meant, though, that I had a lot of last-minute padding to do with my list:
HOUSE OF THE REVENANT SHROUD
Archon Yhrenna Snowblood- agonizer, shadow field, combat drugs, phantasm grenade launcher- 145
Haemonculous Sykelle- liquefier gun- 60
Haemonculous Rukifellith- shattershard- 65
9 Wyches- haywire grenades, razorflail, Hekatrix w. agonizer- 148
-Raider- flickerfield, night shield- 80
9 Wyches- haywire grenades, razorflail, Hekatrix w. agonizer- 148
-Raider- flickerfield, night shield- 80
9 Warriors- blaster- 96
-Raider- flickerfield, night shield- 80
6 Incubi- 132
-Raider- flickerfield, night shield- 80
3 Trueborn- 3 blasters- 81
-Venom- night shield- 75
3 Trueborn- 3 blasters- 81
-Venom- night shield- 75
5 Scourges- 2 haywire blasters- 130
Ravager- flickerfield, night shield- 125
Ravager- flickerfield, night shield- 125
Razorwing Jetfighter- 4 shatterfield missiles, flickerfield, night shield- 185
Total: 1991
This was pretty much my standard 1750 point list, with the addition of shatterfield missiles on my Razorwing, razorflails on my Wyches, night shields on almost everything, and Scourges. I’d only used the Scourges once before, and they’d gotten unceremoniously pie-plated by a Manticore on the first turn. If I’d had the models, I would have love to bulk up my list with some Reavers, Grotesques, Beasts or even another squad in a Venom. Still, I was semi-confident that this list had enough tool s to deal with the Space Marines and whatever they could throw at me.
That “whatever they could throw at me,” however, happened to include some nifty new aircraft:
THE SEEKERS
Lord Mikoll (Kantor)
Librarian- Terminator armour, storm shield, Might of the Ancients, Null Zone
10 Tactical Marines- meltagun, missile launcher
5 Scouts- 2 bolt pistols & combat blades, 2 shotguns, Sgt. w. combi-melta
5 Scouts- 4 sniper rifles, missile launcher
6 Assault Terminators- 3 pairs of lightning claws, 3 thunder hammers & storm shields
9 Sternguard- 2 combi-meltas, 1 combi-plasma, heavy flamer, Sgt. w. power fist
Land Speeder Storm- heavy flamer
Storm Talon- Skyhammer missiles
Storm Eagle- 4 hellstrike missiles
Land Raider- multi-melta
This was a very compact and elite list, with a lot of points sunk into a few really durable units. While I was confident that my lances could deal with his vehicles, this would be my first time fighting against the Storm Eagle and Storm Talon, and I had no idea what to expect from them.
I should add that my opponent’s Space Marine chapter, the Seekers, was beautifully painted and converted…which makes it an incredible pity that I couldn’t take any pictures of this game.
SCENARIO AND DEPLOYMENT:
For the scenario, we rolled Dawn of War Capture and Control, and the board was set up with a lot of bastions, bunkers and ruined buildings. I won the roll-off for deployment, and huddled as many of my vehicles as close the centre as possible behind a bastion, wary of my opponent stealing the initiative. My opponent, in turn, deployed everything as far back as possible, obviously wary of being pounced on by Wyches. Not-Kantor and the Sternguard rode in the Land Raider, while the Librarian and his Terminator buddies took to the air in the Storm Eagle. My Razorwing was left in reserve so that it could swoop in and missile something to death later in the game, and one of the Scout Squads would be outflanking in their Land Speeder Storm.
Before the game began, my opponent and I had agreed that the bastion on my side of the board could only be entered and exited through a doorway facing the centre of the table. Being the forgetful person that I am, this would come back to haunt me later in the game.
TURN 1
After my opponent failed to seize the initiative, my Dark Eldar did what they did best. No, not hold fundraisers for starving children in Shaa-Dom, ATTACK! My Ravagers zoomed out from either side of the bunker to take aim at the Land Raider and Storm Eagle, respectively, and to the left of the bunker, my Scourges flew out to huddle behind a Ravager. On the right flank, my Warriors also flew up, with one of the Wych Raiders taking cover behind the Warrior Raider and rightmost Ravager. Another Wych Raider went flat out to hide behind the uppermost ruins, readying themselves for a possible charge next turn, while my Incubi Raider flew behind the rearmost bastion. In retrospect, I'm not quite sure why I hid the Incubi so far back, but at least this way they remained out of sight and away from all of those hurty Space Marine guns. Last but not least, the two Venoms huddled near my objective, ready to fly out and unleash splintery death next turn if I managed to crack open any vehicles.
Unfortunately, the concept of "cracking open vehicles" seemed to escape my army this turn. While the Scourges ran into the nearby area terrain, my leftmost Ravager unloaded its lances onto the Land Raide…and hit once…and failed to damage. To add to my embarassment, my rightmost Ravager fired at the Storm Eagle...and discovered it was several inches out. My canny opponent had deployed his vehicles well out of lance range, and now I had zoomed half my army into the open to be left exposed to Space Marine firepower. Uh oh.
In the Seekers turn, the meltagun-toting Combat Squad moved up towards the bunker, while their missile-toting brethren hung back in the woods. The Land Raider and Storm Eagle edged forward tentatively, while the Storm Talon continued to hover at the back of the board, knowing that it could hit anything with its 60-inch missiles of awesomeness. Everything else held its ground and took aim at my recklessly over-exposed army, while the theme music of
Duck Hunt began to play ominously in the background.
In the shooting phase, the Dark Eldar felt pain, though not the sort that they typically enjoyed. Kantor...er, Mikoll...called down an orbital bombardment, which narrowly scattered off my rightmost Ravager. The Land Raider, however, was much more accurate, immobilizing the poor skycraft with a lascannon to the aethersail. The Scouts joined in the fun, but their sniper rifles pinged off its hull, and their missile launcher...well, missed. The missile Combat Squad, meanwhile, was able to see my foremost Wych Raider through a rather convenient window, but thankfully their flat out cover save prevented a krak missile-related demise. I was beginning to think I would get off lightly when the Storm Talon opened up, nailing my leftmost Ravager with its Skyhammer missiles and exploding it, killing one surprised Scourge in the blast. Then the Storm Eagle followed up with its vengeance launcher, hitting the Scourges and, in an amazing failure of cover saves on my part, killed all four of the remaining Scourges in one go! As an encore, the Storm Eagle fired a missile at my immobilized Ravager, but thankfully, the shot bounced off its flickerfield, sparing me further embarassment. Last but not least, the melta squad ran into the bunker, giving them a nice central position from which to threaten my vehicles.
So, operation "lance the enemy to death on Turn 1" was a dismal failure, and I was poorer a few units as a result. The Space Marine flyers, in particular, were doing quite a lot of damage. But Dark Eldar have stuff with Interceptor in 6th, other than the Razorwing, right? Right?
TURN 2
The next turn began with my Razorwing arriving...right when I didn't want it to. I had been hoping that there would be some exposed infantry for it to missile to death by this point, but as this was not the case, I instead sent it on tank-killing duty. For some reason, though, instead of having it hover near the back of my lines, I zoomed it up almost directly below the Land Raider...for...some reason, right into potential multi-melta range. I think I had underestimated the range of 36 inches….for what feels like the millionth time in my gaming career. Pre-measuring can’t come soon enough. Elsewhere, my Incubi Raider leapfrogged up behind the ruined building, while the uppermost Wych Raider flew up onto the roof of the building...where it would be nice and exposed to return fire. All hail my tactical brilliance! Elsewhere, my other Raiders hovered forward slightly, while my two Venoms both hovered towards the bunker, the lowermost of them moving slow enough for the Trueborn to ready their blasters. The overall plan, at this point, was to try to kill all of my opponent’s vehicles (again), and then have my Warriors and other units zoom back to deal with the outflanking Scouts and hold my objective in the final turns.
And with that, my own shooting phase began. This time, my Raiders, Ravager and Razorwing all had line of sight to the Seekers' Land Raider and Storm Eagle, and this time I was sure that I was in range. Gleefully, I rolled the dice...
...and nine dark lance shots later, I had only managed to stun the Land Raider. Of all those shots, I think only three even hit their targets. After resisting the urge to grab a garlic press and show my dice the penalty for failure, I focused on some squishier targets. Both Venoms and one of the Truborn squads all unloaded into the Combat Squad in the bunker, killing four of them. The last Seeker took a deep breath of relief, and was about to do a happy dance before the Warriors fired from their Raider, perforating him with splinters and earning themselves a juicy Pain Token.
Annoyed at the stunning of his driver, Mikoll bailed out of the Land Raider and grabbed a hanging rope ladder to board the Storm Eagle (yeah, the Space Marine player assured me he could do that). The aforementioned Storm Eagle then hovered closer to my assembled spiky vehicles, while the Land Raider and Storm Talon both turn around to face my Razorwing.
At the start of the Seeker shooting phase, the Librarian cast Null Zone, nerfing almost all of my flickerfields (ruh roh!). The shaken Land Raider, thanks to its pesky Machine Spirit, was able to multi-melta my Razorwing, but thankfully missed. The Storm Talon fired as well with its missiles and assault cannon, but by some miracle was only able to shake it. leaving it and its expensive missiles alive for another turn. The Scouts fired at my Incubi Raider, but once again, sniper rounds and poorly-aimed missiles failed to damage the elegant craft. I was beginning to think that my Dark Eldar would give a spiky middle digit to the law of averages this turn when the Tactical Squad sent a missile thudding into the Raider hovering on the roof, wrecking it. As my Wyches tumbled down into the ruins, the Storm Eagle fired its vengeance launcher at them, shredding two of them in the blast despite cover and Feel No Pain. Thankfully, the girls weren't pinned, just incredibly annoyed at being shot down.
TURN 3
Having narrowly avoided getting shot out of the air last turn, the Razorwing retreated, moving flat out away from the Land Raider. The Venoms, on the other hand, edged forward so that the Trueborn could unleash blastery death on that annoying metal brick. Further to the north, the Incubi Raider skirted around the edge of the building to take aim at the Storm Eagle, while my other Raiders shuffled as well. Thinking ahead, I had the Warriors exit their Raider to enter the nearby bastion, hoping to hide them in their until late in the game so they could go grab my home objective. Finally, my Wyches moved to the edge of the ruins. My overall plan, at this point, was to hopefully goad my opponent's Terminators into a charge on my two Raiders, and set them up for a massive counter-charge from all of my close combat units.
In the shooting phase, I was hoping to finally break whatever gremlin curse that had been inflicted on my dice. Both squads of Trueborn fired at the Land Raider...and only managed to shake the darned thing again. My Warrior Raider then fired at the Storm Eagle, and, perhaps predictably, missed, while the grounded Ravager followed suit with an impressive triple miss.
I was about to cave in and order new dice at the counter when my Wych Raider fired. Not only did they manage to hit, but this hit penetrated, and the damage roll came up as a magical 5! MWAHAHA,
AT LAST! Not-Kantor and his scary Terminator unit were unceremoniously dumped in front of my vehicles, though they passed their pinning test. Deprived of its initial target, the Incubi Raider had to settle for freeming one of the Tactical Marines, while the Wyches, seeing that the enemy was now much closer than they would have liked, used their fleet move to edge back slightly. Finally, I noticed that one of my Venoms had line of sight to the Scout Snipers, and managed to perforate three of the Astartes noobs in a hail of venomous crystals, though the remaining youngsters held their ground.
With their fancy Forge World ride having been wrecked, Mikkol and his fearsome Terminator Deathstar advanced towards the ruins, intent on squishing some pointy-eared opponents, while the Land Raider zoomed at full speed towards the retreating Razorwing. The Storm Talon edged around to face my swarm of Raiders, and the Land Speeder Storm...once again failed to show up, much to my opponent’s annoyance. The remaining Combat Squad, however, abandoned their positions and ran back towards their home bastion...for some reason. I mean, it’s not like their missile launcher was useless or anything.
In the shooting phase, the Librarian once again cast Null Zone, but this time suffered from Perils and suffered a migraine despite his storm shield and supply of Advil. The Land Raider proved to be just within optimal melta range of the Razorwing, despite its night shield, and I was forced to watch with dismay as my lovely jetfighter was reduced to a molten wreck, denied its chance to use any of its missiles this game…*sniff* Excuse me…
The pain didn't stop there, however, as the Storm Talon's Skyhammers hit the Incubi Raider, exploding it. Two Incubi were killed in the resulting explosion, and, amusingly, so was one of the Terminators. Although Yhrenna and her squad weren't pinned, Mikkol took aim at them with Not-Dorn's Arrow and blew away a further two Incubi, leaving only two of the Dark Aspects standing next to their mistress.
In the assault phase, Mikkol and his buddies, contrary to my expections, did not attempt a combi-charge on all of my Raiders, instead just going after the Incubi, though only Mikkol and one or two Terminators were able to make it into base contact due to the distance. Yhrenna and Mikkol duelled, with Yhrenna sneaking a wound past her opponent's invulnerable save while avoiding getting squished in return despite Null Zone. The last two Incubi fought valiantly, killing two storm shield-armed Terminators (my opponent's saves were awful) before being crushed. Although Yhrenna now stood alone against the Terminators, she had won combat by one, though the Space Marines stubbornly held their ground.
TURN 4
With the enemy right in front of them, the grounded Wyches snatched Rukifellith’s pain token and charged forward to attack the Terminators, leaving poor Rukifellith behind to mind the crumbling scenery and to talk to his invisible friends. While I was tempted to throw my other Wych squad into the mix as well, I remembered that I still had objectives to grab, and instead zoomed them forwards directly onto a forest, passing their terrain test and disembarking the Wyches in front of the understandably worried Tactical Marines . Sykelle, like Rukifellith, stayed on the Raider and started to knit a shawl while the young Wyches took her Pain Token and ran out to play. Elsewhere, the Venoms continued to angle around the Land Raider, and that was that.
In the shooting phase, the Trueborn finally did their job and exploded the damnable Land Raider, though none of the Sternguard were hurt in the explosion. One Venom was facing the Sternguard (the other, thanks to some absent-mindedness on my part, was facing the wrong way) and managed to mow down one of them in a hail of splinters. The Wych Raider, meanwhile, shot at the Storm Talon, and, crucially, stunned it for a turn, relieving me of the Skyhammmer menace for a round. At long last, things were going my way in the shooting phase.
In assault, my foremost squad of Wyches charged the Tactical Marines, and, predictably, tore all four of them to power-armoured shreds. Victorious, the Wyches victory danced closer to the enemy bastion and it lovely objective. My other squad of Wyches pounced on the Terminators, and, after inflicting an impressive amount of wounds, sliced down two of them. Striking back, the Librarian cast Might of the Ancients and whacked a Wych, while the last Terminator whacked another with his hammer. Finally, Yhrenna and Mikoll continued to duel, neither scoring a wound on the other. We'd drawn combat, but the scary Terminator unit was now on its last legs.
In the Seeker turn, the Land Speeder Storm once again failed to arrive. Incensed, the Marine player did what he could, moving the Sternguard partially into cover and into rapid fire range of one Venom (in my idiocy, I'd forgotten to keep the Venoms at least eighteen inches away). The Storm Talon, regrettably, could only sit still and look pretty, as its crew was too stunned to assault cannon the nearby Wyches to death.
In the shooting phase, the the Librarian tried to cast Null Zone, and once again suffered Perils in the Warp (this time failing to cast the power in the process), though his handy storm shield let him bat away the daemonic claw that was grabbing at him in a rather uncomfortable manner. The last two Scouts missed the Wyches with their sniper rifles in vain attempts to get no-scopes, though the Sternguard made up for it by wrecking the Venom with their combi-meltas, forcing the Trueborn out on foot (oh the indignity!).
In assault, the Wyches found their attacks bouncing off of Terminator armour this time, and for their troubles they lost another gladiatrix to the Librarian. The epic duel, however, finally ended as Yhrena slashed two wounds past Mikoll's invulnerable save, felling him and earning some delicious Pain. The Seekers had lost combat this time as their glorious leader was slain, but once again they held their ground.
The din of battle swirled around Mikoll like a cloak, invigorating and sharpening his senses in a way few other things could. At the corner of his vision, he saw the ebon blossoms of unlight bursting from Eldar weaponry, the angry yellow flame of muzzle flares, the blue-white shimmer of light crackling upon his brothers’ hammers and shields, and the flashing steel glint of blades swinging, darting and stabbing—all set to an indistinct background chorus of shrieking engines, roared battle-cries, dull explosions and mocking laughter. The Lord of the Seekers took in every single detail without needing to focus on it, centuries of battlefield experience telling him everything he needed to know at a glance. He and his brothers were surrounded by the Eldar warriors, fighting for their lives, and their counter-attack was faltering in the face of intense resistance. The battle, as it stood, hung on a knife’s edge.
But his attention was focused on the alien female standing in front of him, tall, unassuming and seemingly untroubled by the battle raging around her. Her long violet braid snaked around her slender form like a live thing, and the flowing fuschia dress she wore was emblazoned with runes and designs that were at once beautiful and sinister to the eye. Compared to the superhuman bulk of Mikoll, she was a slight, slender creature who looked out of place on a battlefield. The easy, confident grip with which she held her twin serrated blades, however, and the cold, dark eyes set into her milky face, told Mikoll that she was not to be underestimated.
With a roar, Mikoll raised his modified storm bolter and fired. Mass-reactive bolts belched forth, but in the blink of an eye, the Eldar was gone, the bolter rounds shredding the concrete where she had been standing a millisecond ago. Reacting on instinct, Mikoll spun sideways, just as one of those blade lashed out from the side, slicing through his weapon’s ammo feed with contemptuous ease. The Archon was standing beside him, barely looking like she had moved at all: her pose remained still, elegant and almost statuesque. Only the slight sway of her long braid betrayed that she had even moved.
That is, until she exploded into movement yet again, blades twirling around lightly in her hands in a storm of silver. Mikoll twisted, raising a power fist to block, and felt the electric sting of their weapons’ power fields colliding. Faster than he could follow, another blade slashed past his guard, slicing across his cheek—Mikoll bit back a curse as agony, more than should have been possible for such a tiny cut, seared across the side of his face. Fighting it off with supreme will, he swung back, lashing out with his crackling fist. With catlike agility, the Eldar simply spun out of the way, her braid twirling around her as she danced out of his reach. Mikoll noted that the Eldar’s dress did not appear to be impeding her movements in the slightest.
The Eldar landed on her feet, continuing to stare him down with those cold eyes of hers. In response, Mikoll tossed his ruined storm bolter to the side. “You will meet your doom this day, xeno witch!” he spat, pulling his bolt pistol free and firing shot after shot into the Archon. The Eldar simply stood there: faster than Mikoll could follow, her blades flicked upwards swatting his shots away as though they were irritating flies, each shell impacting inches away from her in a small explosion. Mikoll could have sworn that one or two shots got past the Archon’s guard, but whenever that happened, the Eldar’s form suddenly became shadowy and indistinct, and he couldn’t say if the shots had even hit her.
A second later, the Eldar closed the distance with him again, and their duel continued. It felt like hours passed as they battled, the gleaming blades of the Eldar striking again and again, only to be deflected by Mikoll’s armour, force field, or deflecting power fist. From time to time, though, those blades would bite deeply through Mikoll’s armour, forcing him to hold back a scream each time. Before long, blood ran in rivulets from scores of deep cuts, invisible against the charcoal black of Mikoll’s armour. All the while, the Eldar remained, coldly, and unnervingly, silent.
And then, finally, one of those blades hit its mark.
Just as Mikoll was about to launch another great swing with his fist, the Eldar was suddenly standing directly in front of him. Mikoll’s body paused involuntarily, and it took him a few seconds to look down and see one of the Archon’s blades lodged in his primary heart.
He tried to speak, but nothing came out but a ragged gurgle as blood welled up at the corner of his lips. Pain like nothing else he’d ever known welled up in his chest, his lungs, his stomach, his limbs, his fingertips, his forehead. His vision blurred, and he couldn’t even scream as his numbed jaw locked tight. His world went head over heels as he lost balance, toppling onto his back with an almighty crash of armour.
Through it all, he could see the Archon standing over him, her expression still impassive. For the briefest second, though, Mikoll thought he saw something flicker across that beautiful mask—though whether it was amusement or contempt, he couldn’t say.
“Do not seek that which you cannot kill,” the Eldar woman said, before Mikoll’s vision went white.
TURN 5
With the game potentially over this turn, I moved to disembark my Warriors from the bastion to go grab my objective...until my opponent reminded me that the bastion had only one exit, which would put them far away from my objective...right in front of the Sternguard. Uh oh. At this point, I figured that I wouldn't be holding onto my objective unless we went to turn 6 or 7, so I disembarked my Warriors and zoomed their empty Raider over on top of my objective to contest. The
de-Venomed Trueborn moved towards my objective as well, while the remaining Venom continued to face the Sternguard, and this time I had enough sense to move back slightly out of rapid firing range. My Wyches, now quite high on Pain, entered the lower level of the enemy bastion, aaaand that was that.
In the shooting phase, the Warriors, both units of Trueborn and the Venom fired into the Sternguard, killing five of them despite their cover, though the last three passed their leadership test. My Wyches fleeted up to the middle level of the bastion, ready to charge up into the Scouts if I had a good enough difficult terrain roll. The Wych Raider fired again at the Storm Talon, but missed this time, which meant that the Talon's full arsenal would probably be turned on my Wyches next turn. Oh dear.
In close combat, Yhrenna attacked the Librarian, but couldn't get past his storm shield. My Wyches, however, took the opportunity to stab him in the back, killing him and earning another Pain Token. Swinging back, the last Terminator hammered down another Wych, drawing combat, though he was now surrounded on all sides by attractive Eldar women who clearly wanted him badly (how terrifying!). My other Wyches, meanwhile, rolled well enough to charge up onto the roof and surprised the Scouts, slicing them all to shreds in the blink of an eye and earning their third Pain Token. With a unit of Fearless, Feel-No-Pain'd Wyches sitting in cover on an objective, I was a lot more confident of victory now.
In my opponent's turn, the Storm finally arrived from reserve, outflanking near my objective as I had originally feared. Instead of zooming his Speeder right on top of my objective, however, he hung back, disembarking his Scouts further away. The last three Sternguard, meanwhile, exited terrain to go after my Warriors and, hopefully, get rid of my closest scoring unit. Finally, the Storm Talon edged a little closer to his home objective to contest it.
In shooting, the Sternguard's heavy flamer roared to lift, roasting three Warriors despite their Feel No Pain. The Storm Talon opened fire on the Wyches, who went to ground and only lost one of their number. Finally, the Scouts ran towards my home objective, but didn't roll high enough to actually grab it.
In close combat, the last Terminator finally met a stabby end at the blades of the Wyches, earning them a third Pain Token of their own, and they and Yhrenna consolidated back into cover to enjoy their meal. The Sternguard, meanwhile, charged the Warriors, who struck first and bounced harmlessly off of the Sternguard's armour. Striking back, the Astartes Veterans clobbered down two of the Kabalites despite Feel No Pain, broke them, and ran them down, before consolidating closer to my home objective. And with that, I had no scoring units near my own objective, while the Space Marines had two. Lovely.
TURN 6
At this point, while I had inflicted a lot of crippling losses on the Seekers, the game was still a draw so far: I needed to rid myself of the Storm Talon contesting the Marine objective, and keep the Scouts and Sternguard from my home objective as well. With this in mind, my remaining Venom edged back, while the empty Warrior Raider and the Trueborn edged around to zap the incoming Scouts. Everything else, though, stood its ground: my Archon and Wyches had played their part in this game, their positioning meant that I'd need some amazing fleet moves to get them to any of the other trouble areas on the board.
I went straight to the shooting phase, with the Venom and their Trueborn passengers splintering and freeming down two more Sternguard, leaving just the Sergeant alive. The aforementioned Sarge passed his leadership test, however, and continued on his merry way with cigar-chomping gusto. The other Trueborn and the Raider zapped the Scouts, killing three of them, but they too passed their leadership, obviously eager to impress the badass Sarge. Still, I figured that as long as either the Trueborn or the Raider remained alive, I could still contest that objective. Finally, and crucially, the Wych Raider lanced the Storm Talon, blowing its engines off and, critically, immobilizing it. With the Storm Talon now grounded, it was out of the three inches needed to contest the objective on the roof of the bastion.
Desperate for a draw at this point, my opponent did what he could with his remaining forces. The Sternguard Sarge moved and ran towards my objective, while the Scouts moved towards my Raider, and the Storm zoomed up next to the Trueborn. In the shooting phase, though, the Seekers demonstrated that they had lost none of their bite, as the Scout Sergeant fired his combi-melta at the Raider and neatly wrecked it. The Storm followed suit, immolating all three of the Trueborn with its heavy flamer. Last but not least, the Storm Talon (which we agreed still had
LOS to the top of the building despite being immobilized) unloaded its arsenal onto the Wyches, killing four of them despite their going to ground. Thankfully, my fearless Wyches didn't care as they danced amongst the shredded remains of their comrades. The game, though, was very close, and if it ended now, it would be a draw.
The dice gods, however, decided otherwise. With a resounding result of 6, the game contined.
TURN 7
With one last turn to secure objectives, I zoomed my Venom around the central bastion to gain line of sight to the Scouts. The Wych Raider, similarly, ignored the Storm Talon to get a bead on the last Sternguard. Everything else, though, stolidly stood its ground. In hindsight, I suppose I could have sent the Archon and Wyches after the Storm Talon to try their luck with haywire grenades, but for some reason that had never occured to me.
In the shooting phase, the Raider freemed the Sarge in the back, neatly atomizing him, while the Venom perforated the last two Scouts. Though my opponent still had his Storm left, it hardly mattered, as all of his scoring units were dead.
In my opponent's turn, he knew he had one last chance to score a draw. Once again, the Storm Talon fired all of its guns up into the bastion, and once again the Wyches went to ground. My saves were awful, and another three Wyches were shredded. It didn't matter, though, as one pain-crazed Hekatrix was lefting standing on the objective.
And with that, it was over.
FINAL SCORE:
Dark Eldar- 1
Space Marines- 0
VICTORY TO THE DARK ELDAR!
Thoughts: This battle was a lot closer than I initially thought it would be. In part, that was due to my horrible luck for the first few turns, where all of my assembled lance weapons could only shake the Marine vehicles lightly and ruin their paintwork. In part, though, it was due to my own carelessness. This battle really should be labelled “How not to play Dark Eldar,” as I really made a lot of costly mistakes this game. I moved my vehicles up too closely (specifically, my Venoms and poor Razorwing), negating the advantages of their night shields, and I kept my main scoring unit in a building whose sole exit was facing the wrong way. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I eventually popped my opponent’s transports and got my Wyches onto his objective, but my ability to judge distances was incredibly poor this game. I will be extremely grateful for pre-measuring in 6th edition.
Horrible luck and blunders aside, this was a really fun game. The presence of so many skimmers/flyers made my opponent’s army really fun to play against, and I consider myself fortunate that I was able to deal with Kantor and his big scary Terminator squad. I regret that some of my units didn’t get to do much (my Scourges, Razorwing and Incubi especially), but otherwise I am glad for the win and gladder still for such a close game.
MVP: My MVP for this game definitely goes to my Wyches, one squad of which sliced through all opposition before holding the enemy objective at the end. The other Wych squad also gets nods for dealing with those Terminators, and my Archon is also worth mentioning for killing off Kantor (and somehow winning combat against the Termies when they charged)
Opponent’s MVP: The Storm Talon was an annoyance all throughout the game. With the 60 inch range of its Skyhammer missiles, it was able to hang in the back and pop my Raiders with impunity. Near the end, it was even able to almost tie the game for my opponent by blowing up most of my Wyches. I’m definitely going to be worried about facing more of these things in 6th edition.
Khaeron’s eyes opened.
It was a difficult motion to make: behind the molten remains of his helm, his dusky skin was blistered and cracked. He let out a ragged gasp, which came out as a snarling hiss through the damaged audio units of his helm. Through shattered lenses, he could make out an impassive grey sky, and blinked uncomfortably as a raindrop pattered against a burned eyelid. His entire body was a searing mass of throbbing pain, his skin feeling like it was riddled with millions of needles and his body feeling like it was hammering at his skin from the inside. He tried to move, but that only made the pins and needles sink deeper. He could normally take pain like this, he thought to himself, but when it left him immobilized and crippled…then it was more trouble than it was worth.
He closed his eyes, and remembered. He and his fellow Kabalites had the Astartes cornered when they had unleashed some sort of flame weapon…and he remembered watching as he and his comrades were wreathed in flame…
“Your suffering is inadequate.”
He glanced in the direction of the voice—a stupid move, he quickly realized, as the motion caused a lance of pain to shoot through his spine. There, towering above him like some judgement of the void, was Yhrenna. Framed against the grey sky, her pale skin unblemished by the battle, her cold gaze undiminished, she seemed all the more beautiful. Khaeron shuddered. All the more beautiful, and all the more terrifying.
“I…I don’t…” was all Khaeron managed to rasp. He had intended to say “I don’t particularly care,” but it was hard to speak when one’s throat was as dry as a bleached carcass.
“Don’t speak,” came Yhrenna’s soft-spoken command. “You are the only member of your squad still alive, halfborn. All the others had the good sense to die to the Space Marines, but you have shown just how stupid you truly are by living.”
She leaned closer to him, giving Khaeron a much better sense of the redness of her lips, the fractal glitter of her eyes, the suggestive curve of her figure under her dress. “The suffering you feel now is doubly inadequate,” she continued, her voice halfway between a purr and a knife sliding from its sheath. ”It isn’t enough of a punishment for your failure, and yet it also isn’t enough to satiate me. Dwell on that.”
For a few seconds that felt like an eternity, Khaeron did just that. There wasn’t much else he could do, except contemplate his impending doom. He could only watch, quietly, as Yhrenna’s hand strayed to the hilt of one of her sheathed sword-knives.
Then, quietly, she spoke again, turning away as though in contempt. “Take him away and fix him.”
It was then that Khaeron became dimly aware of hands grabbing onto his shattered legs and shoulders. Pain erupted through his frail remains as he was unceremoniously lifted up off the ground and carried. Through the pain, he stared in disbelief at Yhrenna. “I….I….why….” was all he could say. Multiple syllables, he found, were rather hard at the moment.
“You lived, when you had no right to,” Yhrenna said as she walked towards a waiting Raider. “By rights, you should have been killed then and left to She Who Thirsts. But because I let you live, you will fight harder next time. You will alleviate your shame through feats of bravery, prowess, ruthlessness and cunning. You will become as excellent a warrior as is possible for a halfborn, and in so doing, will prove yourself valuable to the Revenant Shroud.”
She turned slightly, to glance at him. “Because if you don’t, I will personally sinject phosphorus into your veins just to watch you writhe.”
And with that, Yhrenna continued to walk back to her Raider. All the while, the rough hands of the Trueborn pulled Khaeron back to what were undoubtedly the waiting ministrations of the Haemonculi.
Mercy is a strange and cruel mistress, Khaeron thought to himself before he finally blacked out.
