After there victorious advance into the Dark Eldar held northern territories, the Salamanders 2nd Company had left themselves wide open for an attack by another kabal from the east. Eager to relieve themselves of the torment of The Thirst, Lewis had his forces forge into location 05,09 ready to torture many a marine or miner and his family. But Ymir Ver'dan in his wisdom had set up observation posts as a precaution who forewarned him of the imminent incursion. Thus, quickly redeploying the bulk of his forces Ver'dan was ready and waiting for the xenos threat.

This is there story..............

Points - 1000pts

Deployment - Hammer & Anvil (I took this to be a good sign )

Mission - The Relic.

Turn 1.

Salamanders.
After Lewis set up, Ver'dan pulled a tactical masterstroke (due to a very lucky dice roll) and seized the initiative. Urging his troops forward, squads Battacus and Cev'ert opened fire on the nearest raiders but sadly at that range 1 hull point of damage was all that was done. Chaplain Zachariah let loose a salvo at the head of his squad of 5 Firedrake's which also did nothing. With that, over to Lewis.

Dark Eldar.
Oh, how the Dark Eldar can move! Two raiders moved up, deployed 2 x 10 man Wych squads, one complete with Succubus. Then it was onto shooting, Dark Lance style. The Ravager crew took careful aim and, POW! The Chaplain took 2 hits straight to the face, his crozius decided to short out at a crucial moment and suddenly he was DEAD! Lesson 1. Position your pieces better, hidden amongst the Firedrakes would have been far better play instead of adopting the attitude ' what a cool looking model, he's well hard and is going to lead by example by walking out in front of everyone!' . This attitude tends to bite you in the backside (read on, lightning does strike twice ). A few pot-shots here and there meant we was onto charges. The Wych's charged squads Battacus and Cev'ert and suddenly it was up close and personal. So, your rolling 38 to hit dice, 38!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding? Apparently he wasn't and I feared the worst. When the dust settled 2 dead marines was a price I could live with . Cevert's lot got on even better, only 1 marine hitting the dirt, my turn, oh, i've killed a total of 1 across the 2 squads . With that it was turn 2.

Turn 2.
Salamanders.
No messing around, the Firedrakes steamed into combat to help squad Cev'ert whilst the command squad lent Battacus a much needed power-weapon hand. The Firedrakes swung the fight in the Salamanders favour and the Wychs fled, running 9. Smelling blood the mighty Terminators gave chase and cut them down rolling a massive 12! Yay, first blood, 1 VP. Meanwhile, Ver'dan had, like every good commander, taken control and challenged the Succubus to a manly duel. The other combat ended with a great deal of frustration on both parties as too few bodies fell. Succubus attacked, no wounds, result. Ver'dan, 4 attacks missed, over to Lewis.

Dark Eldar.
Reserves rolled, and here comes the Reavers and a (cough) Bomber!!! In a nutshell, the Bomber flew on and fired everything into the 'Drakes' killing........1. The Ravager then had a go........none! A raider + 10 man warrior squad in it........none! Excellent . Then the sneaky Reavers flew straight over the heads of squad Cev'ert and unleashed a torrent of dirty tricksy weaponry. Two marines fell and then we were back onto the melee over the other side. Succubus had 6 hits and then went to wound, and missed the lot! Ver'dan was ready with his counter attack and 3 4+ invulnerable saves was to much and the Succubus was smashed to bloody pieces. 1 VP to the Sons of Nocturne. The other fight was a frustration of net tangling nonsense.

More to follow......

Cool write up

Terminators don't chase and destroy thou, only consolidate

Ooopss! Cheers for pointing that out Dave, I shall remember that for next time (I don't think it had a massive bearing on the game although Lewis may beg to differ). That's the beauty of these things, if there's a glaring mistake it usually gets pointed out and games can be improved.

Anyway, back to the carnage....

Turn 3.

Salamanders.
The only moving done was by the Terminators who were deep into Eldar territory now, setting themselves up for a charge on a Raider. Shooting was done by squad Cev'ert as they rapid fired into the Reavers, taking down 3 of them. Then we were back to close combat. The 'Drakes' charged the Raider and it lit up the sky in spectacular fashion as it blew up taking 6 of the warriors on board with it. Sadly, one of the termies armour must have been damaged by a dark lance previously as they lost a man in the resulting fireball. Meanwhile, Ymir Ver'dan had entered into the big ruck that involved his command squad and a much depleted squad Battacus. Swinging the combat in the Salamanders favour the remaining Wych fled, only to be chased and caught by Brother Sergeant Battacus who howled in vengeance as the only now remaining member of his squad.

Dark Eldar.
With Ver'dan now leading his command squad towards the Relic, the bomber pilot altered course to meet the heroic captain head-on. A Raider moved next to the Relic to target the 2 remaining Firedrakes with another Raider slightly adjusting it's positioning to do likewise. The 4 kabal warriors stood there ground ready to unload at the Terminators also. 1 Terminator fell to the Ravager yet by the time the dust had settled from the Raider and Warrior shots there was still 1 left. The bomber pilot opened up with everything and the Meltagun Veteran crashed to the floor with Ver'dan needing to make an invulnerable save to avoid instant death. He rolled a 1, and the 'look out sir' was more of a whisper than a shout because that failed as well. Lesson 2. Never think you can kill a load of Wych's and a Succubus then march out at the head of your veterans and take on a flyer, no matter how tough you think he is . The Reaver's then charged squad Cev'ert and promptly started to cut them to ribbons.

Turn 4.

Salamanders.
With Cev'ert looking in trouble the veterans moved towards the centre of the board ready to assault the Relic hugging Raider. Battacus walked to the centre of the board and stood next to the Relic ready to pick it up. Ineffective shooting led to the Command Squad charging the Raider, getting 3 glances and destroying it. The lone Terminator charged the 4 warriors winning the combat and making them flee, chasing them and cutting them down (yes, yes, I know that's wrong now but we didn't know at the time ). Cev'ert's squad was now down to 2.

Dark Eldar.
With no units left to be able to claim the Relic, Lewis made sure I couldn't either. The Ravager finally wiped out the bothersome Firedrakes, while the remaining Raider gunned Battacus down as he held the Relic close to him. The Reavers destroyed squad Cev'ert.

Turns 5 & 6.
With no units left to be able to capitalize on the 3 victory points on offer for capturing the Relic, Lewis changed tactics. I had forgotten about the secondary missions although had got first blood (Battacus would have got it even if the termies hadn't) and killing the warlord. Lewis had killed my warlord so we stood at 2-1 in my favour. However, the Dark Eldar shot Coventry out of the veterans and ran to my deployment zone to gain a VP for linebreaker. I came up short by about an inch!
Thus the game ended a draw, all that was left of my force was an apothecary from the Command Squad. Lewis had a Raider, Ravager and 2 Reavers. An absolute awesome game.

Awesome write up, I had a really good game. I look forward to our next confrontation!

Sounds like a cracker. Loving the write up I'm hoping more get played and writtern up. Cheers guys.