Yusov crouched, trembling, behind rusty silos and peered across the gravel and broken brick courtyard. The grip of his worn out autopistol felt rough and heavy in his hand. As he and his team waited, Yusov found a part of him, a traitorous voice deep inside, that questioned the orders he had received from the towering armoured warrior that was Rak'Eel.
The Space Marine had dwarfed the devotees of the Guiding Emperor when he had strode into their worship meeting and pronounced them his to command. A giant in black armour, his eyes shone with light that seemed to come from the Empereor himself, may he guide the galaxy forever.
Yusov quelled the voice and hefted the gun that he had been given as they arrived in these ruins; far, far away from any of the walled settlements that dotted the drab world. Most men never got a chance to see one of the Astartes, let alone to join one in the defence of their world. It would be blasphemous to not leap at the opportunity to do so!
There was movement beyond the fallen brick walls of the small factory.
"The alien comes. Drive them back with fury and fire!" The words of Rak'Eel from behind him filled Yusov with righteous zeal. He was ready!
+++
For Good Friday this year, MarsNZ and I decided to have a game. But to shake things up a bit, we would play a 6th Ed game first and then use the same armies in 2nd Ed. To achieve this we had to use quite small 6th Ed armies and only use troops that were available in the older edition as well.
Here's the second game.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/591404.page
Here's the third we ended up playing.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/591406.page
Here's what we chose:
Eldar - 607 points
Farseer with Singing Spear and Runes of Witnessing.
My Farseer rolled Doom, Guide and Fortune.
Warlord Trait - One use Stealth within 12".
6 Dire Avengers. Exarch with Power Sword.
10 Defenders with a Bright Lance.
10 Defenders with a Bright Lance.
4 Dark Reapers. Exarch. All with Starshot.
Black Legion – 606 points I think?
Terminator Chaos Lord with Lightning Claw.
Warlord Trait - Stubborn on units with 12".
5 Chosen. Two with Plasmaguns.
10 Cultists.
10 Cultists.
3 Terminators with two Combimeltas and a Chainfist.
1 Helbrute.
Veterans of the Long War on the Lord, Chosen and Terminators.
The Mission: Crusade.
MarsNZ gave Eldar the deployment and first turn. He did decide he'd try to Seize, but was unsuccessful.
Deployment:
We rolled four objectives, two on each side. Mars set his near the centre of the board, whereas I kept mine further back.
Turn One:
Chaos – A short turn as he moves up towards the Eldar.
Eldar - everything moved forward, hoping to get onto the nearby objectives or find firing lanes on the Chaos forces. There was a lot of terrain either to block line of sight or provide area saves, but that worked in favour of Chaos as well. Battle Focus allowed my trench Guardians to send a storm of shuriken at the Cultists, breaking them. The Avengers turned their own guns on the other Cultists, breaking them too, and my Reapers were able to see a single member of the Chosen squad, handily picking him off. The Farseer managed to Guide on set of Guardians but that was about all.
Turn Two:
Chaos - Noting the heavy firepower of the Dark Reapers on his left, the Chaos forces moved up to hide behind some walls in the middle, careful to avoid the line of the Bright Lances as well. His Cultists on the right rallied but were wary of re-entering the trenches to face such firepower. The Helbrute in particular hunkered down, meaning there was a large potential assault threat that I had to take into account. The Chosen tried to cause some damage to the Avengers but instead one of their Plasmaguns blew up in its wielder’s hands.
Eldar- My Guardians paused in the Trench to take a shot at the Helbrute with their Bright Lance but failed. The Reapers moved forward to get a better view, taking potshots at the Helbrute with their Starshot missiles. Overall I felt like I was keeping Chaos at bay with the threat of my close range.
Turn Three:
Chaos - Things started to get worrying when the Chaos Lord and his Terminators appeared right behind my Guardians in the trenches. MarsNZ got unlucky and rolled a one for dangerous terrain in the mud of the trenches, followed by a one for his save, severely limiting his threat. However, the Cultists moved up close, the Chosen stepped in to back them up, and suddenly my Guardians were left gulping. The Helbrute burst from behind the silos it had been hiding behind and stepped up to the Reapers and Avengers. Unfortunately, when it declared a charge to clear off the threat of the Reapers, he rolled snake eyes for his charge distance, leaving him stuck staring down the plasma missiles and laser lance of the Eldar.
+++
Yusov couldn’t help screaming as the alien weapons tore the air to shreds with horrifying whistles and shrieks. He wept as he had to run past the body of his friend Tuvol, lying face down on the gravel, his skin torn apart. Beside them strode some hideous machine, more than three times their height, but covered in eye wrenching symbols and hooks. It bellowed, something between the roar of an animal and an engine, then levered itself forward with brutal fists. Walls tumbled as it pulled itself past them towards the aline, and Yusov dove for shelter in the rubble that it left behind. Sobbing he tried to pull himself together. He would not let down the Astartes!
In the distance, a group of the aliens were moving through the mud of an old trenchline. Yusov watched as the other group from his temple tried to move into the trenches to attack, followed by Rak’Eel and his men. It was horrifying to watch, the alien guns sent silvery lines across the air and where they passed, Yusov’s friends fell. A brilliant line appeared across his vision and suddenly another man was simply gone, not even a body left behind.
Then, the air twisted behind the aliens, and a group of giants stepped out of nothing. Even from this distance, Yusov could feel his head hurting at the sight of them. Something was wrong with those figures, Yusov could tell, even as they stepped forward to kill the aliens with ease. Yusov felt his bile rising and hunkered down lower against the wall.
+++
Eldar - the Guardians in the trench turned and fired on the Terminators, and managed to take out one. The Avengers joined in, managing to lay out enough firepower to get them to roll a single one. On the other side of the field, the Reapers launched their Starshot at the Helbrute, but failed to do much. MarsNZ checked out the Crazed table and found that there was a good chance it would ignore the shaken results next turn and make it into combat. The Guardians with their Bright Lance managed to fail as well. Finally, in somewhat of a panic, the Farseer flung his Singing Spear at the beast, managing to penetrate it and putting it down.
Turn Four:
Chaos - Now The Lord was alone, he decided to split his attention, moving out of the trenches and towards the barricades manned by Avengers. Between the shooting from the Chosen and a Cultist assault, MarsNZ wiped out the Guardians. The Lord survived Overwatch to assault the Avengers, killing the Exarch and breaking the squad. He actually would have preferred them to remain in combat, as now he stood exposed. However, he does have his remaining Chosen and the other squad of Cultists on objectives, while the Guardians on my right are still running to get on an objective and I can't even contest on my left.
Eldar - There's a little shuffling and then I throw my Singing Spear at the Chaos Lord, insta-killing him. At this point MarsNZ concedes. He has two objectives, but has lost Linebreaker and still doesn't have Warlord, whereas I've claimed Warlord and First Blood, and two objectives are within easy Battle Focus of my scoring units.
+++
Yusov peered over the wall, wondering whether to cheer or despair as the remaining giant crushed alien bodies in his massive claw. The man barely seemed to be walking, and yet he moved across the field rapidly, getting into the middle of the enemy with ease. He looked like he was laughing as yet another group of the aliens turned and fled from him.
Then a strangely dressed alien came forward, deep blue robes flapping around him and his strange skeletal looking armour glowing. He lifted a large spear and flung it towards the black armoured monstrosity that was charging towards him. The spear hung in the air for seconds before burying itself in the man’s chest, sinking in deep and erupting out of his back. There was a flash of light, and the spear vanished, reappearing in the alien’s hands.
Yusov’s mouth ran dry. He turned his wide eyes to Rak’Eel just in time to see the Space Marine who had conscripted all the members of the temple turn with his squad and walk away from the battle. Yusoc wondered if he should call out, but knew it would mean nothing to the giant warrior.
He looked back over the wall, swallowing heavily. The aliens were coming.
Here's the next battle in this story. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/591404.page
