Just for a change of pace, last night we thought we'd try out one of the missions from the Stronghold Assault book! We agreed that the Dark Eldar would be the attacking force, and the Eldar would be defending the abandoned imperial bunker. A quick dice roll determined that we would be playing the first mission, Bunker Assault; each side receives one Victory Point for each enemy unit killed. In addition, the attackers receive 1 Victory Point for each damage result that destroys a fortification that was chosen as part of the defender's army. Finally, the defender nominates a fortification to have a Targeting Auger - as long as a friendly unit occupies the building, he gets a S9 AP3 large blast with unlimited range at the end of every shooting phase, which always scatters. The attacker gets a bonus 3 Victory Points if this building is destroyed or occupied by attacking forces at the end of the game, or if there is a model within 3" of the marker for the auger.
Eldar Defence Force:
Farseer (Guide, Mind War, Death Mission)
Spirit Seer (Conceal)
5 Wraithguard
10 Dire Avengers, Exarch
6 Rangers
6 Rangers
Striking Scorpions, Exarch
6 Fire Dragons, Exarch
5 Warp Spiders, Exarch
Swooping Hawks, Exarch
Falcon
3 Dark Reapers
Bastion, Void Shields
Bunker, Void Shields
Bunker
Quad Gun
Dark Eldar Siege Force:
Archon, Huskblade, Venom Blade, Shadowfield, Combat Drugs, Haywire Grenades, riding with...
3 Grotesques in a Raider
5 Trueborn, 3 Blasters, Haywire Grenades, dual-cannon venom
5 Wyches, Haywire Grenades, dual-cannon venom
5 Wyches, Haywire Grenades, dual-cannon venom
10 Warriors, Dark Lance, Raider
10 Warriors, Dark Lance, Raider
5 Scourges, 2 Haywire Blasters
Razorwing, Flickerfield
Razorwing, Flickerfield
Ravager
Talos, twin-linked splinter cannon, twin-linked liquefier
Defenders get between 1 and 3 fortifications, the attacker gets an additional Heavy Support slot; I've taken a siege-style force in that every unit in my army can damage buildings to some extent. The attackers always get the first turn unless the defenders can seize the initiative, fortunately thanks to my warlord trait it will be night-fighting on turn 1. Combat drugs are re-roll wounds. The terrain is deliberately set up to favour the defender, as that just made the most sense to us.
Deployment before the scorpions infiltrate behind the no-man's-land bastion. The red-marked buildings are my opponent's fortifications, with rangers in the nearest two. The other buildings are dilapidated fortifications, so AV12 but otherwise as usual. The targeting auger is on top of the bunker.
Aboard his raider, Archon Val'daer grinned. His scouts had been correct, the Eldar survivors he had been hunting had indeed finally been run to earth, taking refuge inside an abandoned Imperial strongpoint. "Puny mon-keigh construction", he mused - these primitive edifices would be no match for the superior weaponry his warriors had brought for just such an occasion. Though, upon closer inspection, the Eldar had indeed had time to restore three of them to full condition - those would be his targets. The plan was simple - crush the enemy and their defences, and bring down the farseer, a head no Archon's throne room should be without. Rumour had it that this location had once held the targeting systems for an orbital laser, and if that could be obtained so much the better. Shouts from the distance indicated that the defenders had seen his force, and as they began to bring their guns to bear, Val'daer ran his tongue along the edge of a blade, savouring the bloodbath about to begin...Turn 1 - Eldar:
Fearing being caught in the open, the Dire Avengers retreated inside the bastion. The falcon and wraithguard also moved a nominal distance, caught off-guard by the sudden arrival of the Kabal. Val'daer's decision to launch his assault as dawn broke was vindicated as the shadows prevented the Eldar from seeing all but one raider, which benefited from a 2+ cover save, easily surviving the falcon's onslaught. Lastly, a shard of light speared down from the heavens, narrowly missing the trueborn and wyches on the left flank.
Turn 1 - Dark Eldar:
The archon permitted himself a smile - the laser DID exist, and it was active! That should make those fools on the far flank hurry up. The ponderous Talos lumbered forwards, in contrast to the sleek movements of the warriors' raider. Val'daer moved his raider around the right flank, alongside the Ravager, keeping the bastion as a blocker to prevent line of sight from the Dark Reapers. On the left flank, the trueborn venom pivoted and moved 6", as the raider moved 12" along with the wych venom. Splinter fire put down two scorpions, and one wraithguard. Streams of darklight flickered out from the raiders and the trueborn, but completely failed to harm the toughened walls of the bunkers - all that firepower, useless!
What sort of fools are you?!" Val'daer yelled. "Are you truly so incompetent that -" his diatribe was cut off mid-flow as an opportunistic warrior fired a snap-shot with a lance from the speeding raider, and found a catastrophic weakness in the bunker, crumbling it to ruins, screams coming from the Eldar within. A voice flickered over the comms system - "Reporting in, my lord - one bunker destroyed. No survivors." With one bunker down and First Blood, the wych venom moved flat out to get closer to the Eldar lines.
Turn 1 - the Kabal of the Fractured Shadow burst into play with devastating consequences
Turn 2 - Eldar:
A flicker, and a horrifyingly familiar sound forced the Dark Eldar to momentarily glance behind them - a unit of Warp Spiders had materialised right amongst their lines (scattering right to the table edge - one more spider in the unit would have caused a mishap), and ran into a crater. The scorpions moved slightly, and the Falcon came across, with the fire dragons hopping out of the rear, levelling their fusion guns directly at Val'daer's raider. Now that they were fully in range of the Eldar firepower, guns barked, punctuated by the noise of several Dark Eldar transports coming apart. The wyches who had turbo-boosted had their venom wrecked by the Dark Reapers, and the warriors closest to Val'Daer had their raider shot from under them by the warp spiders, taking several casualties. The other wych venom was gunned down by the falcon, thankfully not exploding, but the Archon's personal raider was vaporised in an instant by the powerful fusion guns, Val'daer sheltering from the explosion amongst the hulking grotesques. Fortunately, nobody was pinned. Lastly, the orbital blast aimed at the warriors but missed...
The spear of light came down on empty ground again, but close enough for Val'daer to feel the heat against the back of his armour. Suddenly, it wasn't quite as funny when he was the target. "All units, stop that laser!" he bellowed. An insubordinate voice replied, one of his trueborn - "How?" came the insolent response. "HOW?!" he screeched, his voice reaching a dangerous pitch - "I don't care if you have to clog its targeting relays with a pile of your corpses, but that laser does NOT get to fire again!" Val'daer ignored the muttered reply and began to call for reinforcements...Turn 2 - Dark Eldar:
Only one Razorwing heeded the call, coming on behind the bastion so as not to get intercepted. The wyches picked their way out of the wreckage of their respective vehicles, one unit heading for the bunker, the other for the falcon. The trueborn hopped out of their venom to add to the firepower attacking the bunker. It seemed a shame to waste it, but needs must - the archon sent the Talos back to get rid of the warp spiders. Val'daer unsheathed his huskblade, and used the flat of it to nudge the grotesques in the general direction of the Fire Dragons. The ravager pilot, showing off, levelled his craft on top of the bastion. The lone remaining venom fired at the wraithguard, and in an orgy of poor dice they all succumbed to the poison. The darklight seemed incapable of penetrating the remaining fortifications, doing little lasting damage, but the Talos liquefied four of the Warp Spiders. It then charged, flattening the remaining spyder under its considerable bulk. The wyches charged and glanced the Falcon to death. The other wyches and trueborn took their archon's words to heart and swarmed the bunker, dealing enough damage to the building to cause an internal collapse, flattening the rangers inside - but the bunker still stood. Val'daer avenged himself on the fire dragons, slaying three himself whilst the grotesques cut down two - the lone survivor attempted to flee but was cut down, his last sensation that of a knife in his back.
Turn 2 - the advance continues.
Turn 3 - Eldar:
Even more reinforcements as the swooping hawks entered play, landing near the units that were assaulting the bunker. The dire avengers disembarked to lend their shuriken catapults to the proceedings. The surviving scorpions advanced on the wyches. Shooting saw the ravager explode in a fireball, and all bar one wych and one trueborn were casualties of the Eldar shooting. The surviving trueborn suffered an outbreak of common sense and began to flee, the berating cries of the incensed archon ringing in his ears. The scorpions charged and obliterated the wyches who had haywire-d the Falcon into oblivion.
Turn 3 - Dark Eldar:
The Scourges landed in the middle of the table, ready to contribute haywire where needed, as the second Razorwing flew on in a central position. The last raider moved up, ready to do something about the Hawks. The Talos tried to get back into a reasonable position, and the venom retreated. The first razorwing flew over to buzz the bastion, as the trueborn fell back a further eleven inches.
"Coward!" Yelled Val'daer. "Stand and fight!" The lone 'trueborn' showed no inclination towards either, continuing to flee the field. Gunfire caught the archon's attention and he stared as the quad gun intercepted his newly arrived jetfighter, sending it crashing from the sky. His initial feelings of frustration were replaced by a sadistic glee as the smoking fighter crashed right on top of the fleeing trueborn, a just reward for his cowardice. With a smirk, he ushered his minions towards the Striking Scorpions. The Razorwing managed to completely miss the bastion with its lances, but between them the venom and the warriors managed to completely wipe out the swooping hawks. The archon and grotesques easily butchered the striking scorpions and consolidated up to the wall, preparing to launch a final attack.
The Eldar forces are severely depleted, but do the Dark Eldar have enough left to finish the job?
Turn 4 - Eldar:
The farseer and spiritseer separated themselves from the Dark Reapers. The Dire Avengers moved and gunned down the scourges in a hail of shurikens, battle-focussing into a retreat, whilst the Dark Reapers blew up the sole raider, killing 3 in the explosion. The farseer focussed his power, and stared balefully at the despicable Archon.
What was he doing? The Farseer appeared to be gazing intently at him, and Val'daer stared back inquisitively - rejuvenated by pain, he felt no fear. The impromptu staring contest was brought to a halt as Val'daer snapped around to look at the grotesques, who had begun to emit a keening sound and were moaning with their hands pressed to their temples. Suddenly, without any warning, they dropped flat to the ground, all three dead. Mind war got rid of the ENTIRE grotesque unit, which had 6 combined wounds remaining.
Turn 4 - Dark Eldar:
The Razorwing left combat airspace and came around for another pass. Val'daer ran back and hopped over a wall, taking shelter in the lee provided - not cowardice, you understand, but as the only person in the raid with a shred of tactical acumen he felt he had to survive and direct the action. Combined shooting only killed one dire avenger, couldn't touch the Bastion, and brought the bunker down to AV10, but still it lived (thanks to a really irritating knack for rolling penetrating hits to get rid of the void shield, and glances thereafter).
Turn 4 - getting thin on the ground for both sides.
Turn 5 - Eldar:
Everything the Eldar could muster was pointed at the warriors nearest to the bunker - thanks to the cover provided by the wall, plus the power provided by their pain tokens, they took no casualties from the dire avengers. The quad gun was a different story, however - all but two warriors were felled by their guns, but the survivors held their ground. The dark reapers finished off the final venom.
Turn 5 - Dark Eldar:
The Razorwing returned, and again used the bastion as a shield. More dark lances were fired at the remaining fortifications, but to no effect. Finally, the Talos fired at and killed a single Dark Reaper, and their courage failed them and the two survivors began to flee. We rolled for turn 6, and didn't get it - time to add up the scores!
End of the game! The Dark Eldar have inflicted catastrophic damage on the Eldar position, but have they taken too many casualties for it to be a victory?
The Eldar have killed 3 raiders, 3 venoms, a razorwing, a ravager, 1 wych unit, the trueborn, the scourges, and the grotesques for a total of 12 Victory Points.
The Dark Eldar have killed the Falcon, Warp Spiders, Swooping Hawks, Fire Dragons, Striking Scorpions, Wraithguard, Dark Reapers and two units of Rangers, First Blood, one destroyed bunker, and the wych is close enough to the targeting auger marker to net me the bonus 3 - a combined total of 14 Victory Points.
Dark Eldar Victory, 14 victory points to 12An interesting game, nice to try something different. What won it in the end was the specific mission objectives regarding the fortifications, and that surviving wych bagging me three points for securing the auger. It's fun to play as a definitive attacker (I can't see Dark Eldar ever defending a position) and I didn't feel overly hamstrung by the terrain setup, as it made the most sense for narrative gameplay. I did feel the heat with a relative lack of anti-armour, especially once it started to die; turns out haywire isn't AS good against buildings as I thought since Stronghold Assault removes the effects of glancing hits on occupants. That, and I kept rolling 6s when the void shields were up, and 4s when they were down - the other way round would have helped! Man of the match for the Eldar goes to the Farseer, justly awarded for outstanding success in the field of Mind Bullets. For the Dark Eldar, got to go with the kabalite warrior who managed to destroy a bunker with an opportunistic snap-shot, AND survived the game to brag about it later in the underhalls of Commoragh - somebody's due for a promotion to sybarite! Thanks for reading, any C&C welcome, especially on the narrative parts, as that's something new I thought I'd try!
Archon Val'daer strode back out from the damaged fortifications, his seven surviving warriors and lone wych following behind, three of them carrying the targeting auger - a valuable prize, yes, but not the one he had been hoping for. Knowing that their defences had been breached, the Farseer, Spirit Seer and surviving Dire avengers had melted away, leaving a psychic illusion to occupy the attackers. As they neared the webway portal, guarded by the Talos, muffled explosions sounded behind them as the strongpoint crumbled to dust - the self-destruct thermite warhead under the complex was still active, and with the targeting auger removed the complex was pointless. Val'daer did have to admit to himself that there was a certain amount of spite involved, but destruction always was one of his favoured hobbies. The rest of his force marched through the portal, and he permitted himself a last backwards glance over the smoking ruins. "One day," he mused... "you can't run forever. I will find you again, and when I do, there will be a reckoning." He stepped through the portal, and it snapped shut leaving nothing but silence...silence, punctuated only by the sounds of settling rubble.
Subject: Bunker Assault - 1750 points 
Thu May 08 2014, 13:11
