Terminus Space Port

Description:

On Friday, there were five of us at the store. Not wanting to leave an odd man out, we devised an interesting scenario that featured three teams— Imperial Guard with Space Wolves & Grey Knights, a Tau force with Astartes mercenaries, and a Dark Eldar raiding party. Each player was allotted 1000 points, with the exception of the Dark Eldar player who was allotted 1500 points.

The two primary enemies fight normally, using standard missions and deployment rules. The Dark Eldar have different mission parameters. At the conclusion of turn two, the Dark Eldar would outflank en masse from a randomly determined board edge. The Dark Eldar play as though the mission were Purge the Alien with a special secondary objective called “Slaves for Commoragh”. Basically, every destroyed enemy infantry unit drops a slave token that gives an additional victory point to the Dark Eldar at the end of the game provided that a Dark Eldar unit collects them. These slave tokens can be taken by any infantry unit in a vehicle but are lost if the vehicle is destroyed

The Story:

Space Wolf and PDF forces are working to repel a Tau invasion force. The Tau are uncharacteristically aggressive because of the strategic importance of the planet. So far, the Tau have had difficulty expanding from beachhead in the now ruined Terminus Space Port. Elements of the Imperial Navy have managed to lock down the invasion and are slowly strangling the Tau invaders.

Desperate for assistance, Shas'O Ka'Ores hired the services of particularly surely band of renegade astartes who are especially adapt at siege work and static defense. As fate would have it, these warriors are a small detachment of an Iron Warriors Grand Company that seeks to shatter the seals containing horrifying bio-mechanical daemons (Soul Grinders and the like). Through a series of pacts and ritual sacrifices, the Iron Warriors hope to entice the daemons into joining their private black crusade across the sector. The beasts are entombed beneath a now derelict Imperial shrine roughly 40 kilometers away.

Having already divined this possibility, a small detachment of Grey Knights arrive to thwart the Iron Warriors.

The Dark Eldar, lusting for battle and easy pickings have held back, waiting for the right time to strike and cripple both forces for a larger raid. By weakening either side, the Dark Eldar could force one side to make one final push while the pillaged the planet with impunity.

The Lists:

Dark Eldar

Succubus with Agonizer 85
Haemonculus with Shattershard 65

3 Kabalite Trueborn with 3 Blasters in Venom with Dual Splinter Cannons and Night Shields

10 Kabalite Warriors in Raider with Night Shields and Splinter Racks 170
10 Kabalite Warriors in Raider with Night Shields and Splinter Racks 170
7 Wyches led by Hekatrix with Agonizer in Raider with Night Shields 170

6 Reaver Jetbikes with 2 Heat Lances 156
5 Scourges with 2 Heat Lances

Ravager with Night Shields
Ravager with Night Shields

Imperial Forces
Wolf Priest
4 Drops Pods containing 40 Grey Hunters with 8 Melta-Guns
????

Grey Knight Librarian
~3 Interceptor Squads with 5 men a piece carrying Psycannons
Leman Russ MBT with Bolter Sponsors and Lascannon
Imperial Guard Veterans
Company Command Squad

Tau & Co.

6 Crisis Suits with Commander
~20 Fire Warriors
~10 Kroot
Hammerhead

Master of the Forge
2 Dreadnaughts with twin-autocannons
Tactical Squad
Scout Squad
2 Thunderfire Cannons

Mission & Deployment

Terrain was placed randomly, using a combination of the alternating terrain rules and narrative terrain rules in the core rulebook on a 72x48 board. A third party placed the terrain and left a barren center with ruins on either side of the board. For mission and deployment, we rolled Purge the Alien and Hammer & Anvil with Night Fight.

From a narrative standpoint, the mission would represent the Imperial assault on Terminus Space Port. For deployment, the Imperials placed their two vehicles center, with a small detachment of Imperial Guard on their right flank and the remaining Grey Knights and Wolf Priest on their center left flank. The Space Wolves were to deploy via drop pod.

The Tau and Iron Warriors (Space Marines) deployed far back. A Hammerhead, two teams of Crisis Suits, and Thunderfire Cannon were deployed on their left flank. Another Thunderfire Cannon and a Space Marine Tactical squad took up position in ruins ton their extreme right flank. Two Dreadnaughts with two autocannons a pieces were placed in the center next to the Master of the Forge. Two squads of Fire Warriors, a single squad of Kroot, and a Storm Talon were held in reserve. One squad of Scouts deployed close to the Imperial deployment zone in a fortified ruin.

Turn One

Imperial

Two squads of Space Wolves entered via drop pod in the center of the Tau deployment zone and moved to engage both the Master of the Forge and a Dreadnaught. The Grey Knights advanced behind their own Dreadnaught and a Leman Russ. Shooting was generally poor. The Leman Russ failed to kill any Scouts. One squad of Grey Hunters managed to kill the Master of the Forge but failed to destroy one of the Dreadnaughts with their Melta-guns.





Tau & Co.

By contrast, Tau shooting was devastating. The Hammerhead destroyed one of the Leman Russ' bolters. Devastating combination fire from the Crisis Suits, Thunderfire Cannons, and and bolters routed one squad of Grey Hunters and badly mauled another. One of the Drop Pods was also destroyed. I believe that one of the Dreadnaughts also assaulted a squad of Grey Hunters but the Grey Hunters managed to escape.

Turn 2

Imperial

Two more Drop Pods entered from reserve, deviating wildly. The Grey Knights continued to march forward behind their armored vehicles. The remains of the previous Drop Pod assault moved towards an entrenched squad of Tactical Marines. In a desperate gambit to clear out the mercenary astartes, the Leman Russ and Wolf Priest opened fire to no effect. One squad of Grey Hunters managed to stun a Dreadnaught. Finally, Grey Hunters landed on the Tactical Marines like a pile of bricks, destroying most of the Squad. The two squads were then locked in combat.

Tau & Co.
A squad of Fire Warriors and a Storm Talon arrive from reserve.

The Tau and their mercenaries readjusted their positions to counter the Imperial onslaught. Crisis Suits moved to engage an exposed squad of Grey Hunters. The Crisis Suits and the Hammerhead also positioned themselves to absorb the impending Dark Eldar attack. The fighting was fierce— Four Grey Hunters were killed by a squad of Crisis Suits and the Hammerhead stunned the Leman Russ. Shooting from the Thunderfire Cannons and Fire Warriors annihilated most of a Grey Hunter squad rushing to assist their brothers locked in melee. The traitorous mercenaries were routed in combat but managed to escape and regroup outside of the ruins.



Dark Eldar

Seeing the Mon-keigh armies locked in a death struggle, the Dark Eldar craft descended like a murder of crows upon the battlefield. With the sun at their backs, they laid into both the Imperials and mercenaries. Two battle groups hitting the two forces both in the north and south. A detachment of Scourges, Ravagers, and a squad of Kabalites hit the Imperials to the north while Reaver Jetbikes, Trueborn, Kabalite Warriors, and Wyches with air support attacked the mercenaries to the south. Shooting was directed at priority targets and was quite effective. All in all, a Thunderfire Cannon, Librarian, Wolf Priest, Leman Russ, Dreadnaught, and Fire Warrior squad were either destroyed or forced to retreat. The Imperial's Venerable Dreadnaught was immobilized. One round of shooting either destroyed or rendered impotent ~1000 worth of models, mainly Imperial forces.





Turn 3

Vengeance

What followed can only be described as panic shooting from both the Imperials and Tau. Both sides were coordinating their attacks the Cliffnotes summary is that three Raiders, one (two?) squads of warriors, the Reaver Jetbikes, and a Ravager were destroyed.

Dark Eldar
Unfortunately, we had to leave so the Dark Eldar were unable to respond in kind as the store was closing.



Epilogue:

As quickly as they had come, the Eldar raiders withdrew. Their fallen and what mon-keigh with life yet in them were roughly thrown onto the bloodied decks of Raider and Venom transports. Though they had sustained heavy losses, they had devastated the Imperial chain of command. The Tau, desperate for a lifeline, slammed into the Imperial line's with as much force as they could muster.

Outcome:
Dark Eldar: Slave the Warlord (2), Line Breaker (2), 6 Kill Points=>10(
-Librarian
-Wolf Priest
-Leman Russ
-Dreadnaught
-Fire Warriors
-Thunderfire Cannon

Imperials: Slay the Warlord, First Blood, 5(4) Kill Points==>7(6)
-Master of the Forge
-Raider
-Raider
-Warriors
-Warriors(?)

Tau: 6 Kill Points
-Raider
-Ravager
-Grey Hunters
-Grey Hunters
-Drop Pod
-Reaver Jetbikes

Victory for the Dark Eldar(?)

Closing Remarks:

This was a fun but confusing game. The Deployment clearly favored Tau forces immensely. Bad miserable Space Wolf rolling had more to do with their bad showing than any tactical miscalculation. The Grey Knights and their Imperial Guard allies were deadweight until they could shoot and assault the Dark Eldar. The Tau were essentially unscathed, having only lost a squad of Fire Warriors. By contrast, the Space Wolves and Iron Warriors mercenaries were largely spent. Although they suffered grievous losses, the Dark Eldar still had the ability to reasonably collect up to seven kill points by:

-Assaulting the Grey Hunters & Mercenary Tactical Squad (Wyches)
-Killing a two man Grey Hunter Squad (Venom)
-Destroying a Dreadnaught (Trueborn)
-Destroying a Dreadnaught (Razorwing Jetfighter)
-Killing the last survivor of an Interceptor Squad (Scourges)
-Destroy Storm Talon in Hover Mode or Venerable Dreadnaught (Ravager)

With this in mind, balance questions come to mind— the Dark Eldar can, under the right circumstances, kill steal very easily. The game implicitly requires the Dark Eldar to attack both teams or the winning team for the sake of fairness. The Dark Eldar merely had to focus on the Imperial deployment zone to crush them in one fell swoop. Alternatively, if the Dark Eldar had arrived from the other table edge, they could have easily destroyed the Tau units and Thunderfire Cannon lurking on their left flank as well as the Leman Russ, some Imperial Guardsmen, and a Dreadnaught.

Several of the mechanical/story telling elements also needed work. The idea behind a surprise attack is that it should be unexpected. Some players, notably the Tau, had the foresight position their forces to protect against the Dark Eldar. How assaults should work with three assault phases per game turn was another issue.

Looked like a fantastic game, though I can imagine three assault phases being a bit odd. Personally I would reduce the number of points the dark eldar get, as they get to pick and choose their fights anyway thanks to their mobility, so they can go for the weakest player without overpowering him and that will keep things interesting.

Fluff wise they would pick off the stragglers for slaves, rather than charge either force head on.

Thanks for sharing the pain!