Thursday, July 19, 2012

Blood Angels Vs. Dark Eldar Battle Report



A mountain with a stand of trees along the west board edge and another in the southeast marked the raised terrain.  In between the two were 2 bastions and a church spread across the SW to the NE axis of the battlefield.  and then two more buildings along the same axis, set between the bastions and the Blood Angels who were deployed to the north (touched on later).  A lonely house at the SW outskirts of the installation marked the only sign of civilian influence in the otherwise military dominated area. 

The Blood Angels were deployed in anticipation of the Dark Eldar attack and had gained the initiative through the carefule application of informants and listening posts.  The Dark Eldar were going to raid this place and none other than Urien Rakarth himself would be leading the charge.  So momentous was the occasion of the battle that Mephiston, Lord of Death and the great Librarian of the Chapter, had accompanied the men here. 

The Emperors Will was to protect two listening posts, vital for trade communications and frankly, Dark elder invasions like this.  One was in the far SE corner where the Dark Eldar were expected to take it early on.  The second was safely in the center of the Dawn of War deployment area of the Blood Angels.

Four Land Raiders all deployed near the northern board edge promising a brutal contingent, manned with units of Tactical Marines.  A LandSpeeder to the NW readied to swing around the church and take the invaders by surprise.  Mephiston set alongside the easternmost LandRaider (A Redeemer) in quiet anticipation next to a Death Company group, making notes.  Two Furioso’s prepared for Drop Pod Launch…

The Dark Eldar came as expected.  4 Raiders spread themselves evcenly out along the southern board edge, taking cover and positioning themselves to take advantage of the bastions and the church/other buildings for cover, trusting in their Nightshields to further confound the enemy.  One of the Dark Raiders came upon the first Listening post.  Twisted Wracks howled inside, ready to leap out, when needed, to secure it.  Dominating the middle of the deployment were the Grotesques.  To their right stood an incredible managerie of beasts, being tamed by BeastMasters.  To their right, next to the SE mountain, were both the Cronos and the Talos Pain Engine, simmering with hatred and drug induced rage.

Turn 1:
Mephiston gave the command and the first Furioso blasted from orbit and slammed into the earth in front of the beastMasters.  It's Heavy Flamer and Meltagun blazed away, hurting the Razorwing flocks and killing two of the tamers.



The Death Company waited restlessly behind the Redeemer near Mephiston.

The LandRaiders shifted east slightly and fired, but the Dark Eldar had used the Bastions well to cut off clear line of sight and while the enemy did score some hits, it was superficial until the last Land Raider finally tagged and blew a Dark Raider to kingdom come.  FIRST BLOOD!

The Dark Eldar Wracks blown out of their transports ran forward and into the southernmost bastion.  The other Raiders shifted east to further make use of the bastions for cover and adjust to the Land Raider shift.  Their Lances pounded against the armored might of Imperial Ceramite plating, but all of it amounted to little as the only real damage was a Lascannon torn off of one of the smoke belching God Hammers.  The Dark Elder could see that their Grotesques and Beast Masters were going to be useless if that armor wasn’t cracked, plus the Dreadnoughts would be likely to tie them up if they weren’t cautious, so the Grotesques ran to take cover behind the bastion the wracks were in, moving mostly laterally.  The BeastMasters moved back to try and minimize their exposure to the Dreadnoughts' next round of flaming death.  Meanwhile The Venom to the east shot the land speeder that had moved near the church.  The trueborn inside failed to kill it.  The Talos and Cronos ran into better positions.  Neither monster wanted to get entangled with the Walker so they chose not to charge it but hoped to lure it into charging them instead of the squishier BeastMasters!

Turn 2:
The second Drop Pod landed behind the first, depositing the other Furioso behind the Drop pod of the first Furioso.  It ran to get better firing position and towards the center bastion.
The Blood Angels fired again, with all their LandRaiders and this time they took a Dark Lance off one of the Raiders on the eastern side of the battlefield.  Because of the shorter range on some of the Raider variants, the fusilade was minimal and survivable.

The Dreadnought moved up and flamed the BeastMasters again but was not able to charge it thanks to their wisdom in putting distance between the two units the round previous.

The land speeder near the church did its level best to END the Venom in front of it but could not.  The Drop Pod put a Hull Point of damage on one of the nearby Raiders unexpectedly though!

Overhead, the sky was split by the thunderous sound of the supersonic VoidRaven Bomber.  It screamed overhead and dropped a Void Bomb on top of the Furioso, immobilizing it!  It then fired its Void Lances into a Redeemer in the NW of the enemies deployment, immobilizing it!  BOOM.



The Cronos and Talos made their way towards the enemy lines.



The Grotesques (plus Urien) and BeastMasters continued forward at full tilt, careful to stay far enough away from the second dreadnoughts charge range, which limited them somewhat on how close they could really go forward, per se.

The Dark Raiders fired and continued to put Hull Point damage on the enemy but not much more.

The affronted Trueborn in their venom moved forward and blasted the LandSpeeder from the skies while it hugged the side of the church like the skirts of its weepinig mother.  The heavy concentration of Dark Elder on the right flank was starting to take a toll.

Turn 3
The God Hammers smashed another Raider into the ground from afar.  Others tilted their guns skyward, shooting at the Bomber that now threatened them, but to no avail.  Mephiston stirred from his book and prepared as the Trueborn would soon be coming around the eastern flank to where his Redeemer sat waiting…  The Redeemer he was near moved forward and opened up on the  Venom with holy flame but couldn't kill it.

The VoidRaven Bomber banked north and smashed the Silver Redeemer.  Now they had Mephistons attention!  The Wracks in the Bastion moved out, after the Grotesques (and BeastMasters) passed by the fortification.



The Wracks knew they had to be brave little Line Breakers and time was pressing in.  The unit of wracks that was just blown out also followed behind them, while the unit of Dark Raider with Wracks nearest the SE corner destroyed the closest Drop Pod.  It was their only target since they moved too far away to hit the Land Raiders in the interests of taking the objective later.
The Cronos and Talos crunched their way forward some more and into the second level of buildings, approaching the downed Redeemers.  The Pain Engine immobilized the first Dreadnought with its TL Haywire Blaster,



while the Trueborn got out and laced into the Tactical marines that had been forced out by the bomber.  When that failed to kill all of them, the Trueborn charged and were able to hold the last two up! Mephiston watched in disgust right next to them.

Another unit of Wracks streaked up the left side at full tilt behind a building and nearest to a Redeemer in the far NW corner.  It positioned itself to try and ram the enemy in the next round.

So as the third round came to a close, the vicious monsters of Uriens design had closed in and were over midfield, nearing the enemies centrally placed objective.  BeastMasters were to their right and not far behind.  The Dreadnought “linemen” were immobilized and unable to stop their advance.  Still, only one Redeemer was dead and Mephiston was yet to make his presence known.

Round 4:
 Mephiston attacked the TrueBorn, and through poor rolls, did not manage to wipe them completely, so they held.  The Marines added little to the effort.

The mobile Land Raiders moved and fired into the oncoming horde of monsters, killing almost all of the first Wrack unit that had gotten out of the Bastion.  Ouch.  The Wracks behind them got flamed and nearly killed by the immobile Dreadnought.  More ouch.  LineBreaker wasn’t looking too likely at that stage for the Deark Eldar.



The Blood Angels were up 1-0 at this stage.

The VoidRaven Bomber took off into the clouds and disappeared.  The Cronos and the Talos crushed their way forwards and tried to get to combat with Mephiston but could not.  The Raider in the SE corner moved its Wracks right near the objective there and killed the first immobilized Dreadnought for spite but the Wracks stayed inside and bided their time.  Poorly.

The Raider that had positioned itself last turn RAMMED the God Hammer (with the missing LasCannon) and caused another Hull Point to it but otherwise failed to influence it.

The Dark Eldar monstrosities of Urien pressed forward and got to within striking distance of all the Land Raiders but had no weapons that could actually hurt the behemoths with and could not charge something they could not hurt!  That were left waiting patiently for someone to kill, in front of a lot of guns.

Mephiston wiped the TrueBorn, then wiped his sword, then consolidated towards his fellow Land Raider buddies to help next round.

The Score was now 1-3, Dark Eldar favor.

Round 5:
Mephiston took flight and ran to the backfield of the Land Raiders.  Out poured the Tactical marines, unleashing bolter death and surprisingly, they wiped the rest of the Wracks out of existence that were trying to break the lines.  They knew the charge was coming but the Landraiders formed a narrow strait through which to attack and perhaps it would restrict the enemy ENOUGH to give them a chance.  After all, The Emperor Protects.  The Land Raider in the NW corner couldn’t move so its occupants got out and started humping it towards the objective also but didn’t reach it.

The moment Urien had waited for was here.  He opened his Casket of Flinsing but it did nothing.  Angrily, with one word, his BeastMasters and Grotesques went berserk and swarmed forward:  “FEED”.

Only the Beast Masters were able to get through the narrow corridor between God Hammers and not all of them.  Hurt and angry Clawed Fiends slashed and raked against ceramite armor…  But not a single space Marine fell!  Not one.  The Emperor Protects indeed!  The BeastMasters were defeated and had to test their morale, but they held.

The VoidRaven Bomber streaked onto the field and again tried to kill marines but unfortunately there were none available to kill and its void lanced epically failed.

The Cronos and Talos both attacked the death company that had been hiding behind all the Raiders the whole time and were temporarily held up with the trifling matter.

The Wracks got out of their Raider to take the SE objective.

The Dark Eldar were up 3-1 but the marines had held and if Mephiston could help turn the tide at the gap, while the LandRaiders pushed into Urien and his Grotesques that had not made the charge, the Marines could still win 4-3!  There was hope yet.

Round 6:
Mephiston jumped into combat.to help the besieged Marines and wgot challenged!  The challenger actually wounded Mephiston before getting cut in half.  But now that more of the beasts were involved in the fight, the beat down on the normal Marines began in ernest.  One of the two units ran off the board screaming. That left a lone pare of Marines, and Mephiston, to hold the gap.  They HAD to defeat the beasts and send them packing to win.  Could Mephiston do it?



The Land Raiders pushed the Grotesques back and the Drop pod took potshots. While the stragglers from the immobilized redeemer from the round before in the NW corner continued to run for it.

The Dark Eldars tuirn came and the Death Company died, their essence sucked from them by the Cronos and spew'd in a gory shower for his nearby comrades to enjoy. 

Mephiston was challenged again and that proved the lynchpin as the Dark Eldar Beasts tore the two Marines apart in a flurry of Razorwing feathers, drowning the Marines last hopes of holding the objective.  Mephiston, though contesting, no longer had a way to take it.  The Wracks secured the SE objective.



The final score was 3-1, Dark Eldar.

5 comments:

  1. Great batrep. You managed to provide such a good narrative, I didn't need pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! I try. I actually have pics. I just didn't get a chance to post them with it. I suppose I can try and do that now.

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  3. You really need to include a picture of that Razorwing in your blog. Its so badass.

    ReplyDelete
  4. There is a picture up above of it. Do you mean like having it somewhere else?

    ReplyDelete

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