| May 17, 2003, Rogue Trader
Tournament hosted by the Pittsburgh Iron Legion |
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Dan Moore - Dark Eldar
The Fog of War Mission was a new mission developed by the Pittsburgh Iron Legion. It utilizes a special 'fog of war' rule that requires each player to roll a D6 at the beginning of their turn. On a roll of 1-3 they play a normal turn. On a roll of 4-6 the player must use Night Fighting rules and roll for visibility for any unit that wishes to shoot. Deployment zones were large triangular areas on opposite sides of the battlefield. The objective of the mission was to control the most table quarters
Les's World Eaters army consisted of 3 tactical squads, two of which were in rhinos. He also had a squad of bikes, a Dreadnaught, and a Defiler. His HQ was a Chaos Lord with appropriate wargear. He was attached to one of the tactical squads in the rhinos.
Les deployed his rhinos at the edge of his deployment zone as close to the dark eldar lines as possible. His rhino with HQ was on the left side of the battlefield, and his other rhino was in the center. The large foot squad was deployed on the right side with the Dreadnaught. The bikes were deployed between the rhinos and the Defiler was back in his deployment zone behind some trees.
I deployed the large warrior squads at opposite ends of the dark eldar deployment zone. The Talos was deployed to support the large warrior squad on the left side of the battlefield. The dark lance squad was in the center of the deployment zone. Both the Wyche and HQ raiders were deployed behind a large rocky outcrop adjacent to the right side of the deployment zone
The World Eaters got to go first and Les rolled for a normal turn under the fog of war rules. He moved all of his units except the Defiler at their maximum movement toward the dark eldar lines. The rhino with the HQ advanced behind some cover on the left side of the battlefield. The bikes moved to support this rhino on the left side and positioned themselves between some trees and rocky cover. The rhino in the center advanced behind some rocks in the center of the battlefield and the squad inside disembarked. The tactical squad on foot and the Dreadnaught advanced forward on the right side of the battlefield. The World Eaters shooting was limited by line of sight considerations. His bikers did manage to kill two warriors in the large squad on the left. The Defiler's ordinance shot fell short of the Wyche Raider that he had targeted (sigh of relief!).
During the dark eldar's first turn I rolled for a normal turn with the fog of war rules. I advanced both of the large warrior squads towards the onrushing World Eaters on either side of the battlefield. The Talos moved to support the warrior squad on the left side. The Wyche raider also made a 24" move across the battlefield to get in position to help the warrior squad on the left side. The HQ raider moved 12" toward the rhino and marine squad in the center of the battlefield. The Dracon and Incubi disembarked in position to assault this marine squad. The jetbikes moved 12" toward the same marine squad to support the dark eldar HQ. The dark lance squad and HQ raider fired their dark lances at the rhino in the center of the battlefield and destroyed it. The jetbike squad fired at the tactical squad next to the rhino and killed one model with blaster fire. The large warrior squad fired on the chaos bikers, but the bikers made all of their armor saves. The Talos and the other large warrior squad were unable to shoot at anything because of range or line of sight limitations. During the assault phase the Dracon and Incubi attacked the chaos marine squad in the middle of the battlefield and inflicted heavy casualties, while taking none themselves.
An overview of the battlefield during Turn 1 (photo courtesy of Les Smartnick)
A close-up of the Dark Eldar HQ preparing to assault (photo courtesy of Les Smartnick)
On turn two Les rolled for fog of war and got a normal turn. His rhino with HQ advanced toward the large warrior squad on the left and disembarked in position to assault the squad. The chaos bike squad likewise advanced to support its HQ. The chaos space marine squad on foot and the Dreadnaught continued their slow advance towards the dark eldar lines and the large warrior squad advancing to meet them. During the shooting phase the Defiler once again targeted the Wyche raider. The shot deviated however and killed five warriors in the large warrior squad nearby and pinned the unit. The bike squad fired on the nearby Talos but was unable to wound it. The Chaos Dreadnaught fired on the large Warrior squad nearby and killed two. During the assault phase the Chaos Lord and attached squad assaulted the large warrior squad and inflicted heavy casualties. The dark eldar in return only killed a single marine, and subsequently failed their leadership check. They tried to flee, but the chaos marines prevented them. Les decided not to assault the Talos with his bike squad in hopes that the Talos would join the melee with the nearby Chaos lord. The close combat between the Dracon/Incubi and the other marine squad continued and two more marines and one Incubi were killed. The Dracon took a single wound.
During the dark eldar's turn I rolled for fog of war and got a normal turn. The Talos was moved towards the chaos bike squad so that it could both shoot and assault the squad (Sorry Les, it was just too juicy a target, and DE warriors are expendable). The Wyche raider advanced toward the close combat with the Chaos lord and the squad disembarked in position to join the melee. The jetbike squad made a 24" turbo-boost move to put it in position to assault the Defiler in the next dark eldar turn. The HQ raider moved so that it could fire its dark lance at the advancing Dreadnaught. The large Warrior squad on the right halted its advance and fell back several inches to regroup so that its blasters were closest to the advancing Chaos Dreadnaught. During the shooting phase the Dark lance squad pivoted its weapons and fired at the bike squad, killing one of them. The Wyche raiders fired its Disintegrator at the nearby rhino and immobilized it. The Talos wild-fired into the bike squad but failed to wound anybody. The HQ raider fired its dark lance at the Dreadnaught but missed. During the assault phase the Talos assaulted the bike squad and killed one of them. The bikers responded in kind by inflicting a wound on the Talos. The Wyches joined the close combat between the Chaos lord, his supporting squad, and the remnants of the large Warrior squad. The warrior squad was wiped out in the melee, as was a Wyche. The chaos marines took two casualties. The Dracon and Incubi continued their melee with the marine squad and reduced it to one model.
On turn 3 Les rolled for fog of war and got a normal turn. The Dreadnaught and marine squad advanced toward the HQ raider and nearby close combat. In a surprise move, Les advanced the Defiler toward the jetbike squad in preparation to assault them. The Defiler fired its Reaper Autocannon at the HQ raider but failed to hit it. The Chaos Dreadnaught fired at the HQ raider but failed to damage it. During the Assault phase the Chaos Dreadnaught charged the HQ raider but failed to hit it. The Dracon and Incubi finally managed to kill the lone chaos marine they were fighting and consolidated into some woods adjacent to the chaos marine squad on foot. The Talos killed two chaos bikers, while taking another wound from them. The Wyches traded casualties with the Chaos lord and his marines. Each side lost 2 combatants. The Defiler charged the jetbikes and was unable to wound them. The jetbikes at S4 would only be able to hurt the Defiler when they could surround it and attack its rear armor in the next turn.
I rolled for fog of war in the dark eldar turn 3 and had to use night fight rules. The HQ raider maneuvered so that it could fire its dark lance at the Chaos Dreadnaught's rear armor at point blank range. In a calculated gamble, the remaining large warrior squad advanced towards the Dreadnaught to get in blaster range. The Wyche Raider made a 24" move towards the World Eaters's deployment zone so the it could shoot at the Defiler or immobilized rhino. The Dracon and Incubi moved through the woods towards the marine foot-squad nearby. They rolled well for difficult terrain and stopped 1" short of the chaos marines. During the shooting phase the HQ raider fired at the Dreadnaught and missed! The Dark Lance squad tried to shoot the Dreadnaught, but they could not see it because of the fog of war/night fighting rules. In desperation, the large warrior squad fired at the Dreadnaught with their blasters and caused it to explode in massive fireball that nearly wounded the Incubi and chaos marines in the vicinity. During the assault phase the Incubi and Dracon assaulted the chaos marines on foot and killed the 4 of them. The Talos managed to kill the remaining chaos bike. The Wyches lost four members of their squad, while only killing two chaos marines. The Wyches made their leadership check and the melee continued. The jetbike squad encircled the Defiler and two of the bikers attacked its rear armor to no effect. The Defiler managed to destroy one jetbike, but the squad made its leadership check.
On turn 4 Les rolled for fog of war and had to use night fighting rules. It hardly mattered at this point because all of his units were engaged in close combat. The Chaos lord and his marines killed the remaining Wyches and consolidated into the Talos. The jetbikes managed to get a glancing hit on the rear armor of the Defiler and destroy it. The Dracon and Incubi killed 3 more chaos marines in the foot squad while losing one Incubi themselves.
During the dark eldar turn I rolled for fog of war and got a normal turn. The Wyche Raider and jetbike squads moved towards the immobilized rhino and the melee between the Chaos Lord and Talos. The HQ raider made a 24" move towards the left side of the battlefield to claim a table quarter. The Dark lance squad had no targets so it moved around in its deployment zone to get a clear fire lane on the melee between the Talos and Chaos Lord. Should the Lord win the fight the dark lancers would be ready to vaporize him. The large warrior squad advanced towards the melee between the Dracon, Incubi, and chaos marines. During the shooting phase the Wyche raider fired on the immobilized rhino with its Disintegrator but missed. In the assault phase the Chaos Lord destroyed the Talos with a single blow from his power weapon. The Chaos Lord and 2 surviving marines consolidated toward the jetbike squad. The Dracon and Incubi killed all but one of the chaos marines in the foot squad.
On turn 5 the Chaos Lord and his 2 marines assaulted and killed 2 jetbikes. The squad failed leadership and tried to flee but the chaos marines would not let them!
In the dark eldar turn the Chaos Lord destroyed the remainder of the jetbike squad. The Dracon and Incubi killed the remaining chaos marine that they were fighting and consolidated towards the World Eaters deployment zone. The Wyche raider finally managed to destroy the immobilized rhino with its Disintegrator.
At this point Les conceded the game because he did not have a unit that could contest any table quarters as the squad with his HQ was below 50%. The dark eldar held all table quarters.
This battle was another solid victory for the Dark Eldar. Despite the loss of the Wyche squad and Talos to the Chaos Lord and his squad. The dark eldar assault units were able to inflict sufficient casualties on the World Eaters so that they did not have enough men left to contest any table quarters. The Dracon and his Incubi were definitely the stars of this battle. They single-handedly destroyed two full squads of World Eaters chaos space marines in close combat, while only losing two Incubi in the process. I was impressed with their performance given how they had struggled with a Grey Knight squad in an earlier battle..