| May 17, 2003, Rogue Trader
Tournament hosted by the Pittsburgh Iron Legion |
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Brandon Gromis – Dark Angels
The Arch Rivals scenario uses 12" wide deployment zones along the long edges of the battlefiield. The primary objective for both sides is to kill the enemy commander. In each movement phase you are required to move your commander closer to the enemy commander. Victory points are used to determine a winner, and killing the enemy commander nets you a 250 VP bonus.
Brandon fielded a fairly mobile Dark Angels army that featured two Tactical squads in rhinos, a Devastator squad in a razorback, and a predator Annihilator. His HQ consisted of Librarian with force sword that was leading a squad of Grey Knights in a rhino.
We deployed our HQ’s on the left side of the battlefield so they could come to blows as quickly as possible. The Rhinos deployed in the middle of the battlefield behind cover and the deviator squad deployed on the right side of the battlefield on some high ground overlooking the battlefield.
I deployed my Talos in the middle of the battlefield and flanked it with a dark lance squad to the right and a large warrior squad to the left. The other warrior Squad deployed on the right side of the battlefield and the jetbikes deployed behind this squad for cover. The wyche raider deployed behind some cover in the middle of the battlefield
Brandon got to go first and advanced his rhinos and razorback directly toward my lines. His initial shooting was unimpressive as only a few warriors were killed.
During the dark eldar turn 1the HQ raider advanced to a rocky out-cropping and my Dracon and Incubi disembarked into the cover of the rocks. I turbo-boosted my jetbikes straight at the Devastator squad. The large warrior squads and Talos advanced forward en masse. I held the wyche raider in reserve behind cover. During shooting I managed to immobilize the predator annihilator with dark lance fire.
On turn two Brandon advanced his rhinos and disembarked all his squads. During his shooting phase he inflicted heavy casualties (>50%) on the large warrior squad on the left, broke them, and forced them to fall back. The Predator destroyed the HQ raider and the Devastators/Razorback killed only a single jetbikes (thanks to 4+ invulnerable saves).
During the dark eldar turn 2 I moved the Talos and Wyches forward to position them for an assault on his squads. The Dracon and retinue advanced to assault the Dark Angels HQ. The Jetbikes moved in position to assault the Devastators. During shooting the Jetbikes destroyed the weapon on the razorback. The disintegrator on the Wyche raider destroyed one of the rhinos in the middle of the battlefield. The Dark Lance squad destroyed the other rhino used by a tactical squad. The jetbikes assaulted the devastator squad and exchanged casuatlies with each side losing one model..
On the Dark Angesl turn 3 Brandon moved his HQ rhino and Devastor Razorback out of sight of my dark lance squad. There was no shooitng because the Predator Annhilator had no targets. During the assult phase the Grey Knights/Librarian killed two incubi while only losing one of their own. The Talos killed several members of the tactical squad that it was fighting. The wyches traded casualties with the tactical squad they were fighting as each side lost two models. The Devastaor squad killed another jetbike rider, but the squad made its leadership check.
On the dark eldar turn 3 I moved the wyches raider so that it could fire at the HQ rhino. The dark lance squad moved into some rocky cover since it had not targets to shoot at. The large warrior squad on the right side of the battlefield advanced toward the Dark Angels deployment zone. In the shooting phase the squad was able to destroy the weaponless Razorback with its blasters. The Wyche raider destroyed the HQ rhino with its disintegrator. In the assault phase the Grey Knights/Librarian killed the remaining incubi while taking one casualtie themselves. The Talos wiped out the remainder of the tactical squad that it was fighting and consolidated toward the melee between the Dracon and Dark Angels HQ. The Wyche squad inflicted several more casualties on the tactical squad that it faces. The jetbike squad killed another space marine devastator but lost two more jetbikes in return. The remaining jetbike made its leadership check.
On turn 4 there was no movement or shooting by the Dark Angels. The Predator still had no targets and the remainder of the army was tied up in close combart. During the close combat phase the Grey Knights/Librarian killed the dark eldar Dracon and consolidated next to a burning rhino so they were not in the line of fire from the dark lance squad. The Wyche squad killed the remaining members of the tactical squad that they were fighting. The Devastator squad killed the remaining jetbike that they were fighting in close combat, however they lost another model and had only one model remaining in their squad
On the dark eldar turn 4 the Talos advanced to a position to assault the Grey Knights/Librarian. The Wyches also moved towards the Grey Knights/Librarian and used fleet of foot during the shooting phase. The Wyche raider and the large warrior squad advanced towards the lone space marine devastaor. During the shooting phase the warrior squad killed the remainind Devastator with massed spliner fire. The Talos wild-fired at the Grey Knight squad but failed to wound anything. During the assault phase the Talos attacked the Grey Knights/Librarian. Unfortunately, the Talos only got two attacks on the charge and missed with both of them. The Grey Knights/Librarian were able to inflict one wound on the Talos.
On the Dark Angels turn 5 the Librarian killed the Talos with a single blow of its Force sword. The Grey Knights/Librarian advanced toward the on-rushing Wyche squad.
The Wyche raider and large warrior squad entered the Dark Angels deployment zone. The Wyche raider fired at the Predator but failed to damage it. The Wyche squad assaulted the Grey Knights and were wiped out to the man while only inflicting a single casualty on the Grey Knights. Once again, some poor dice rolling on my part resulted in the Grey Knights/Librarian to be victorious in close combat.
When the dust had settled only the Dark lance squad, one large warrior squad, and the Wyche raider remained for the dark eldar. The Dark Angels Librarian survived along with the two members of the Grey Knight squad as well as the immobilized Predator.
Even with the Dark Angels getting a VP bonus for killing the Dracon, the game still ended up as a tie. It was a blood bath for both sides. If my dice rolling for the Dracon and retinue had been better in the initial assault on the the Grey Knights,then the outcome of this game might have been better for the Dark Eldar. All in all, it was not a bad start to the day. My dark eldar army was able to fight toe to toe with the space marines in HTH and hold its own. Little did I know that this was a sign of things to come…