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Dark Eldar/Coven vs Iyanden Eldar in "Mutiny in the Webway" (1500pts, 1/11)

Started by BigToof, January 12, 2015, 01:17:19 AM

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BigToof Points Time!  How do the HQs fare?

Archon and Bella survive til the end!  (DE Dominance)
3 (75%)
Archon stays up.  Bella needs regeneration (Archon survives)
0 (0%)
Archon down.  Bella up.  (Bella survives)
1 (25%)
The Head of the Snake falls (Both DE HQs go down)
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 4

BigToof

Dark Eldar/Coven vs Iyanden Eldar in "Mutiny in the Webway" (1500pts, 1/11)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi All,
Apologies for the long time off.  Holidays.  Doldrums.  You know the like.
I only hope that there is some interest for batreps left :)

This game is a quick apertif to the mayhem that is going to be the Tau rep.

In this game, we have a game of Space Elf on Space Elf action!
I decided to try out using PURE Dark Eldar using the Dark Artisan Coven foration and well, they're up against a sort-of fluffy list.  Sort of.

Two Spiritseers.  Wraithguard.  Fire Dragons.  Wave Serpents.
TWO WRAITHKNIGHTS.

Alright, it's fluffy, I didn't say friendly...

As for my list, I took out the Eldar components, put in the Dark Artisan (Talos, Cronos and a Haemo as a single unit) and decided to try out a Heatlance Scourge suicide drop with a Blaster Archon.

Maybe it wasn't the most competitive of adjustments, but I was sure going to try!

Hope you all enjoy the rep.

Best,
-BT

P.S. 
Comments and Critiques greatly appreciated.
Yes, there will be fluff as well :)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------
The Lists
-----------------------


Dark Eldar 1500pts: 28 Infantry, 6 Vehicles, 2 MCs; 13 VPs
The Grisly Hand Kabal (Dark Eldar CAD)
- Archon Y'stral w/Agonizer, Blaster, WWP, Shadowfield
- Warriorsx5, Blaster in Venom w/SCx2
- Warriorsx5, Blaster in Venom w/SCx2
- Warriorsx5, Blaster in Venom w/SCx2
- Scourgesx5 w/Heatlancesx4
- Reaversx6 w/Clustersx2, Heatlancesx2, Arena Champ Starsparkle
- Ravenwing Jetfighter w/Dark Lances, Missilesx4
- Voidraven Bomber w/Void Lances, Void Mine
- Ravager w/DLx3
The Salon of Sorrow (Coven Supplement Dark Artisan)
- X'Bella Le'Gosi (Haemonculus w/Webway Portal)
- Talos "Baytor" w/Ichor Injector, Splinter Cannon
- Chronos "Cuddles" with Spirit Probe

Iyanden Spirithorde 1500: 18 Infantry, 3 Vehicles, 2 MCs; 10 VPs
- Spiritseer
- Spiritseer
- Fire Dragonsx6 w/Exarch, Fast Shot in Wave Serpent w/SL, Holofield
- Wraithguardx5 in Wave Serpent w/SL, Holofield
- Wraithguardx5 in Wave Serpent w/SL, Holofield
- Wraithknight
- Wraithknight
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------
Chapter Eleven: Fragile Alliances
-----------------------------------

"So... how have things been?"

It had been a number of minutes into the main course before Farseer Thielbane proffered his first question.  He pulled a bit at his ceremonial robes and glanced along the length of the imported Wraithbone table.  Seated opposite him, for once not in her full Exarch armor, was Gloriana, Fire Dragon Exarch and once his good friend.  Thiel had to admit that Gloriana still looked pretty.  She had long, blonde hair mixed with crimson that looked like a roaring fire, and her eyes flickered with fiery intensity.  Also, rather tall and buxom, which Thiel had to admit did play with certain non-Farseer emotions that tended to crop up from time to time.  At least Glory had on a full-length, high-necked garment that offered nary a wisp of exposed flesh, but for some reason, Thiel found it almost as alluring as the near-naked display that the Wyches managed. 

Well, not really.  At least it did leave more to the imagination.

Glory had been injured quite some time ago, and Thiel had heard that she had recovered fully.  He had just been busy, what with Y'stral moping about the changes that had gone on to the armada's weaponry and things like that.  The alliance between the Grisly Hand Kabal and the Craftworld was tenuous at best, and only that Y'stral refused to believe that Thiel hadn't divorced himself from his former mantle of Captain of the Scarlet Serpents did the Dark Ones keep a kind of peace between them.  Glory had made it clear that she wasn't happy about the whole affair.  She clearly didn't like Y'stral or any of the non-Craftworlders and VERY much didn't like that Thiel had taken Allonia as his lover.  Consort.  Something like that.  It was complicated. 

Galen had taken the whole thing in stride.  Sort of.  Galen was a Spiritseer and had come in still sort-of in an unauthorized manner from the Iyanden Craftworld and at least had been silent about his near bowel-drenchingly enraptured fear of everything around him.  It did say something about the Dark Ones when someone dedicated to dealing with the dead found them particularly horrifying.  But, now, Thiel had realized that he had let his mind drift completely off dinner. 

It was a decent sort too, imported from a Maiden World with a touch of Exodite wholesome flair.  Which meant that it was bland and fairly terribly spartan.  Just the kind of fare that Glory would hopefully like and maybe even appreciate.  Or at least give an excuse to open up.  She had been so quiet, not even popping up a bit with her usual contempt and rage.  Maybe it was not too much to hope that she was willing to give the whole situation a chance?

"You're not drinking the wine?"

Thiel looked up at the question, and saw that Glory was pointing at the goblet that he had poured for himself quite some time ago.  He had almost forgotten it what with all the details running around in his brain.  Bringing it up to his lips, he sniffed it.  A sort of familiar vintage, but a bit odd.  Maybe one of Y'stral's choices.  He put it down and looked at Glory, who looked like she was waiting for something.

"Perhaps I want to savour the pleasant company first?"

Gloriana blushed, and Thiel allowed himself a small sort of victory.  She wasn't upset like usual.  Perhaps there was some kind of defrosting going on.  All he would have to do is give it time.  Glory would see.  It wasn't like the whole situation was unreasonable.

"Please.  Just drink the wine."

Thiel perked up at her words, looking across the table.  Glory hadn't eaten hardly any of her meal, and she was looking at him intently.  Something was wrong.  In fact, something had been tugging at his mind the entire time.  Distracting him.  What was going on?

"Glory, I..."

Before he could say more, Gloriana moved with blinding speed, shoving the table forward and into his gut, knocking the wind out him and sending him sprawling of his seat.   The Farseer crumpled, trying to get to his feet, but Glory was on top of him, forcing something down his throat.  And then he went limp, soft breaths barely moving his chest.

Gloriana shook her head.  This was supposed to be the easy part.  She was doing this for his own good.  For the good of everyone.  Why did the Farseer have to make this so hard?

"Because he's not an idiot.  I did warn you."

Gloriana swiveled around to see a suddenly-visible raven-haired Eldar shaking her head at her.  Mind-magics.  A growl escaped the Exarch's lips.

"Are we doing this or not?"

Spiritseer Illandara walked forward, nodding sagely.

"Of course, my dear.  You will get what you want, and I will get what I want.  We all win."

The Exarch said nothing as she picked up the mostly still form of the Farsser and took him away.  Illandara nodded to herself.  Everything was going to plan.  The trail on the missing Lady D'ysperax had gone cold and only reinforcements would let her have a chance of finding her again.  Which is why she had to stoop to these underhanded methods.  No matter.  It was a simple enough arrangement to put the players in their places and manipulate things to her needs.  Disgruntled, unhappy Craftworlders trapped in a web of lies and deceit.  It was practically her mission in life to save them.  And it was just a happy circumstance that she would get what she needed out this entire affair.  All she would have to do now is cut off the head of the snake.  And that was something she was particularly looking forward to.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Pre-Game Thoughts:
Well, good news.  Wraithknights fall to mass poison.  I have three Venoms.
Advantage Dark Eldar!
He has no anti-air.  I have two flyers.
Advantage Dark Eldar!
He has Wave Serpents...  That ignore cover, brutalize all of my vehicles (even the flyers), can jink for a 3+ save, and destroy pretty much all of my infantry.
Uh... I think my only hope is that he only brought THREE of them.
The Seers, Wraithguard and Fire Dragons are pretty good, but I can outshoot them as I have better range, and they will fall if they get out of their transports.
Hopefully, I can nab enough objective points in Maelstrom, and if not well...  I guess we can hope really hard?

----------------------------------------------------------------

Mission: Cleanse (VPs... Oh that's not good...)
Setup: Vanguard Strike (Diagonals)
Warlord:
Bella (Yes, really): Re-roll FNP rolls of 1 on Dark Artisan
Iyanden: 3 enemy units take pinning test at start of game
Psychic Powers (Pure Telepathy?):
Seer1: Psi Scream, Shrouding, Hallucinate
Seer2: Psi Scream, Fortitude, Hallucinate

----------------------------------------------------------

Setup: Well, it's quite clear that neither of us wants to have much to do with the other as ruins go in the corners with some LoS blockage for shenanigans.  Some trees and smaller bitz go in the center, but I get a feeling that it's not going to be that helpful.  Bloodbath, anyone?
The Dark Eldar win choice to go first, and I decide to take it, taking the larger ruin with some LoS blockage and putting two Venoms with Warriors and the Ravager in it.  I reserve everyone else, putting the Archon with the Scourges to hopefully snag a decent kill.
My opponent plays everything on the board in the corner, putting the Wraithknights to the flanks and the Wave Serpents in the corner.
As there's no other objectives than VPs, I get a feeling that things are going to be brutal pretty fast.

---------------------------------------------------------



Picture Caption: We both have three vehicles on the table so it's kind of fair...  Right?

----------------------------------------------------------

To Be Continued!
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

Mabbz

My eternal optimism has done me fairly well so far, so I'll keep it. They both survive!

Archon Sharrek

I was going to say that they'd both die, given that Y'stral is in a 'suicide drop' and Bella is the warlord and the mission may hinge on getting those secondaries. But I feel that she may survive due to her unit and her warlord trait, and that you opponent doesn't have a huge amount of fire power. It'll probably be close though, seeing as how much AP 1/2 those Fire Dragons and Wraithguard can throw out...

Looking forward to the rest!
Taking the theme of Tau and Dark Eldar allies, and having fun with it.

"That's EVIL EMPEROR ZURGIE-BABY, TO YOU!" - Evil Emperor Zurg

"Jim-cracking Dandy!" - Evil Emperor Zurg

Cammerz

Yay! Bigtoof's alive!

A great start to the report BT, advances in the over-arching plot are good for fluff and the fluff is the main reason I read these.

Two wraithknights look scary but hopefully your mass poison will deal with them fairly quickly. Overall I reckon you've got this one and I'm going to place my vote in favour of both characters surviving, although I was tempted to only give Bella my support. Y'Stral won't be too pleased that she's usurped his position.
I also reckon that Y'Stral would be much more likely to survive if the knights go down to poison early, if they engage him he's screwed.

Great to see you back BT, happy new year, I look forward to the rest of the battle.

BigToof

Thank you all for the very kind comments!

Apologies for the wait, RL came and kicked 'Toof in the face again.

But now, the Rep is HERE.

C&C greatly appreciated :)

Best,
-BT
-------------------------------------------------------

-------------------
Turn 1: Dark Eldar
-------------------

The Kabal of the Grisly Hand is not a well-known organization.  As far as Kabals went, it was a barely-funded haberdash of an affair, held together mostly by desperation and malice.  For that reason, it tended to acquire a certain type of manpower:  The Desperate and Anyone who Works Cheap.

But one thing was clear: The Kabal was about raiding and mayhem and occasional thoughts of tomorrow.  It was not about coherent thought or long-term plans.  So it was that guard duty was considered the most egregious of punishments as it forced the hedonistic Dark Eldar to stay in one spot and try and act competent and diligent.  Anyone caught slacking was usually brutally tortured and killed.

Which sounds horrible until you realized that the only ones to really say anything were your fellow guards.

Which meant that guard duty boiled down to a small group of extraordinarily lazy Warriors who sat in their rides, boasting, boosting on whatever new was in the market and generally wasting time while trying to look like they were being bored to death.

This scenario explained perhaps why the crew in the two Venoms and the Ravager guarding the armory didn't think much of the Wave Serpents approach.  Or the Wraithknights.  Half of the Dark Eldar thought they might be playing a prank.  Or be a hallucination.  In fact, the sudden declaration by the Craftworlders for their surrender caused such a commotion that all the Warriors could think to do was run and hide.

And they couldn't even do that very well...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, as my opponent's units are all in Wave Serpents that are quite far away, I could try and put some pressure on a flank and then hit him with my reserves.  Alternatively, well, I can run to the corner and hide.
But we're playing Dark Eldar here!  Unrivaled aggression ho!
Then, I try and move my Ravager who is not actually currently facing towards the Eldar force and... immobilize it.
That's... that's so bad.

Then, my other Venoms decide to stay and defend the gunsh...

HAHAHAHA

No, really, we do the Eldar tactic of hiding and run away more out of LoS, leaving the Ravager to it's fate.


Picture Caption: Sorry, Ravager, them's the breaks.

-------------------
Turn 1: Eldar
-------------------

"I'm still not really sure about this."

Illandara sighed as the telepathic message poked into her head.  How was she supposed to host a successful uprising with barely competent help?  Galen, the other Spiritseer, was a compatriot of Thielbane, which did put things in a bit of a sticky situation, but luckily he had all the backbone of a half-whipped Mon'Keigh.  Luckily, she had a decent reply prepared.

"Spiritseer Galen, does your loyalty not lie with Craftworld Iyanden?"

"Well, yes of course, but why hasn't Thiel..."

"Farseer Thielbane is NOT of our Craftworld.  He is not responsible for the outcome of this battle.  WE are.  YOU are.  Now stop being such a half-wit and wipe out those dregs in the shadows."

Illandara shook her head.  The Wave Serpents were more than enough to deal with the pitifully weak opposition.  Once they got ahold of the armory, the Dark Eldar would have no choice but to surrender or otherwise they would risk a massive explosion that would take apart the entire ship.  So far, the incompetence of the guards had astounded even her lowest expectations.  If this kept up, Galen wouldn't even have to get out of his tank.  This would be all over in just a few moments.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The entire Eldar army moves out to my left, keeping their front to my board edge.  No shooting is done they had to boost to get into LoS.
I had better roll well on reserves or this'll be a short game.


Picture Caption: And... now they can see me.  Joy.

--------------------
Turn 2: Dark Eldar
--------------------

"Archon!  Archon!"

Archon Y'stral raised an eyebrow as he saw the flushed faces of two Wyches running into his throne room.  One was Thiel's bangslut and the other was the bustier whats-her-face.  He glanced at the small pack of Scourges that had recently arrived on Thiel's orders.  Thiel thought that he needed help from the winged wonders.  Pompous overpriced razorwings was more like it.

"This had better be important."

The two Wyches looked at each other and swallowed.  Apparently they were reconsidering barging into a probably-deadly situation.  The bustier Wych pushed Thiel's Wych forward in an almost admirable gesture of self-preservation and said,
"Apologies, Great Archon, but Allonia has something that she HAS to tell you."

Allonia threw a look at her rival Ray'keth that could make etchings in a Land Raider and cleared her throat.

"Great...  Great Archon, the...  the Craftworlders.  They're revolting."

The Archon rolled his eyes.  "Tell me about it.  The big orange one told me to stop staring at her boobs the other day.  It's not like they're that great, but it beats looking at her face!  Bunch of pumped up wastes of space.  If Thiel wasn't in charge of them, I'd space them all."

"Err... yes, Great Archon, but they're...  They're... uh...  making a mutiny."

"WHAT?!" screamed the Archon, leaping from his throne with enough visible rage to make everyone take a few steps back out of habit.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!"

The two Wyches looked at each other and said nothing, hoping for the best.

Y'stral snarled, "It means we finally get to kill them all!  Oh, Thiel, Thiel, you sneaky little Ur-ghul, I knew you had it in you.  That's the ticket!  Just when I thought he wasn't going to try!  Now we..."

"P...  Pardon, Great Archon, but Captain Thielbane isn't with them.  There's another Craftworlder Seer that we haven't seen before that seems to be leading them."

The Archon stopped in mid-rant.  "What?!  Some newcomer stepping in and stirring the pot of death?  That's just... stupid.  Now I've gone and lost my kill-boner.  Thanks you two.  Right, let's just get this over with.  Scourges, get your tank-guns.  I've got over-powered, under-priced crap to blow up."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

My fliers and the Heatlance Star arrive!  As do the Jetbikes.
And... that's it.  This... could be bad.

I look around where I can put the star and find that I can barely fit it behind the furthest Wave Serpent.
The Void Raven and Ravenwing come in on my right and get ready to potentially light up targets.
The death star lights up the Wave Serpent and explodes it, leaving Galen and his Guard out in the open.  I open up with the Razorwing, wincing a bit as the big blast templates go down, but I score a good number of hits.  After a quite poor showing of armor saves, the Wraithguard all go down!  The Voidraven puts a few wounds on the closest Wraithknight, but that's about it.

Oh, and my Venoms continue hiding and the Jetbikes boost to the far corner.


Picture Caption: First blood due to shoddy rolling!  We'll be fine now...


----------------
Turn 2: Eldar
----------------

Illandara winced as she felt Galen's mind fade.  Not dead, but unconscious and out of the fight for quite some time.  But, the Archon had taken to the field out in the open in some pathetic attempt to combat them.  Didn't he know he was outclassed?

With a smirk, she sent a mental command to the enormous Wraithknights that were standing by for just such a situation.  Did the Dark Ones really think they stood a chance?

-----------------------

And the Wraithknight moves up to say hi to my Archon.  This... could suck.  The Wave Serpents are somewhat annoyed by my flyers, but after finding out that they don't have much in the way of weapons continue to move to my flank, targeting the Razorwing and one of the Venoms.

To absolutely nobody's surprise the Venom falls apart in a hail of Serpent fire, and the Razorwing is shaken.  The Wraithknight shoots at the Heatlance star for giggles, and takes a wound going into assault from the Archon's Blaster.  The big guy then proceeds to stomp out the remainder of the squad except for the Archon, who actually puts a pair of wounds on the behemoth!  He makes a somewhat shaky morale check and stays in there...

And on the other side of the map, the other Wraithknight moves towards the Jetbikes, completely wiffs his shots and tries for a very, very long range assault, but falls short by quite a bit.


Picture Caption: I think we need bigger guns.

VPs:
DE: 3 (FB)
E: 2
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

BigToof

--------------------------
Turn 3: Dark Eldar
--------------------------

X'Bella Le'Gosi was pleased that so many interesting things were going on.  Ever since her last significant creation, the Talos body for Haemonculus Bay'tor, the once-Haemonculus had been pressuring her to make more of the Talos-class creatures.  Bella had always meant to try experimenting with the process, but so much tended to come up.  At least, she thought things had come up.  Although, perhaps things had not.  It was difficult to remember.

But, in the end it mattered not, as she had managed to create a new sort of beast, one that she hoped would please her new friend.

Looking up at the looming form of Haemonculus Bay'tor, she stated her carefully planned monologue.

"Friend Bay'tor.  I have taken your request into serious consideration and in doing..."

"You have made girl for Bay'tor?"

Bella paused and turned her head to the side in thought.  It was... technically true.  But, perhaps not.  Gender was such a confusing thing at various points.  In some ways, perhaps it better to consider that genetic predilection was not necessarily the most important aspect of potential role dynamics.  Yes, she should perhaps diagram the different...

"You have girl NOW?!"

The sudden response made Bella pop her head back straight.  Oh, yes, the project.

"Yes, Friend Bay'tor.  I have made the additional Engine.  Thank you for the suggestions on preparing a proper personality and mental arrangement."

Bay'tor nodded, rubbing his clawed hands together.

"Good, good.  It is soft?"

"Yes."

"Warm?"

"Yes."

"And it wants to touch Bay'tor all the time?"

"...  Yes."

Bay'tor nodded, his normal sized cranium wobbling in it's surgically attached frame.  He had been so lonely since taking his new awesome form.  The stupid Wyches did not like him any more, even though they should.  So the answer was simple, he would make a new girl!  One that was just for him.  And Bella had done just that.  Bay'tor's mind whirred as he thought of the possibilities.  He only hoped that great gazongas were part of the model.

Bella rotated a small panel on the side of her laboratory, and there was a loud hiss as a steam covered tube rose from the floor.  There was a gurling as the tube split open, warm fluid rolling across the floor.

"Friend Bay'tor, I..."

And before Bella could actually anything more, Bay'tor pushed past her and grabbed the huge figure inside the tube.  It was soft.  It was warm.  And then there was pain.

A shock unlike any he had felt in a long time ran across his arms and he struggled to scream, but every nerve seemed to lock up.  The steam parted and he saw a formless looking blob of a creature with an armored body barely holding it together.  A white and pink masked face looked back at him, and a number of tentacles roped forward, stroking his body and causing his body to go numb.  It gurgled and a high-pitched warble went out.  To Bay'tor it was terrible beyond imagine.  It went:

"Nyu?"

Bella nodded.  Cuddles the Parasite Engine was bonding well with Bay'tor.  Now they were friends.  The soul-draining touch was obviously not affecting him significantly.  Which was good as Bella thought there was a strong possibility that it might be turned up too high.  But, everything was fine.  Now she should show Cuddles to the others.  Taking out her Webway Potal Generator, she noticed that there was a number of rather tightly clustered signals.  Maybe they were having a party.  That was good.  Now, they would all be friends together.


-----------------------------------------------------
Well, the rest of the army now shows up, with the last Venom moving towards the Wraithknight.
I move the Jetbikes up (skilled rider is awesome for ignoring terrain rolls!) and I dump an armload of shots from the Venom, the Warriors inside, and the Jetbikes into the Wrathknight.  It almost falls, and I then go for an assault!  I sneak a rending Hammer of Wrath in and the Wraithknight falls! 

And the Archon does some hefty work as well, as he epically does the last two wounds on the Wraithknight and it falls as well!

The rest of the army?

Uh... well...
The Razorwing goes off the table.  The Voidraven makes one Wave Serpent jink.  The Dark Artisan goes to the closest patch of cover next to the Wave Serpents and... ummm... that's about it.


Picture Caption: When  half of your army can do absolutely nothing a turn, perhaps it's time to rethink the list?


-------------------------
Turn 3: Eldar
-------------------------

Gloriana nodded as she noticed the flare of Webway Portal energy.  The Archon had sadly taken the field, and was now close to being obliterated.  As soon as the head of the serpent fell, it would be a simple matter to take care of the others.  Sort of sad really, she was hoping that there would something resembling a challen...

A new pinging sound brought her attention back to the sensors.  A new Webway Portal was opening.  And... things were coming out.  Two large creatures and a Haemonculus.  This was unexpected.

"Pilot, set us down.  Let these newcomers feel the wrath of Khaine personified."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

My opponent is a bit surprised that both Wraithknights bit the dust, but he decides to take out the Dark Artisan as well, WARLORD and all.
So he disembarks the Fire Dragons and now I have SEVEN (Exarch FTW) meltaguns in my face.  The Wave Serpents decide to whittle down the last of my anti-tank by shooting down the Voidraven.  He also shoots down one of the Venoms.  The Fire Dragons though don't have as much luck as I have 4+FnP that re-rolls 1's (yay!) so I take a few wounds on the Talos, but am otherwise fine.


Picture Caption: I think we're doing alright?

VPs:
DE: 5
E: 4


--------------------------
Turn 4: Dark Eldar
--------------------------

"For the Glory of Khaine!"

The Fire Dragons fired at their Exarch's command, and enough fusion blasts erupted to spark a small sun.  The broken bulkheads melted and fell away, and Gloriana smirked as an inhuman scream went up, and then fell silent.  Simplicity itself.

Turning back to her charges, she started to walk away, when a pair of voices went up from the darkness:

"Stupid, stupid little things HURT Bay'tor!"

"Nyu!"

Gloriana turned and felt her knuckles whiten under her gauntlets as she gripped her Fusion Gun tighter.  A pair of enormous creatures rolled out of the ruined cover, one a spike riddled monstrosity full of claws and malice, screaming epithets as it went.  The other was a rolling blob of tentacles that whistled incomprehensibly as it went.  Gloriana noticed with some trepidation that metal and wraithbone shards melted and turned to sludge in it's wake.  What kind of monstrosity was this?

And then as if to answer her, out from behind them trailed Bella Le'Gosi, writing in her little book as usual.

Now this was going to be an interesting fight.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ravenwing comes back in on my left.  I move up the Dark Artisan into assault range of the Fire Dragons.  I then move the Archon up to get a shot off on the closest Wave Serpent.
All of my shooting manages to finally take down one of the Serpents and then the Jetbikes move back a bit to get into a better position.  The Chronos templates the Fire Dragons down to a more dealable size.
The Aritsan makes their assault and the Fire Dragons surprise me by ALMOST taking down the Talos with mass melta bombs (bless FnP!), but we do alright as Bella challenges the Exarch, and although she doesn't the heavily armored Craftworlder, the two MCs clean up nicely.


Picture Caption: Fire Dragons=scary!


---------------------------
Turn 4: Eldar
---------------------------

Y'stral cackled as another Wave Serpent went up in flames.

"Khaine's blue balls that was great!  How great are those overgrown Venoms now?  Now there's just one of you sad little..."

As if on cue, the final Serpent swiveled and began to glow.  Y'stral sighed and activated his Shadow Field. 

Do these idiots ever learn?  After all, what were the chances that something...

And that was when the Shadow Field dissolved beneath the massive pulse, tearing the Archon in half and sending half-fried gore across the battlefield.

...  And absolutely noone was surprised.

--------------------------------------------------------------

With only the last Serpent left, he decides to take out my Archon, which unfortunately fails a save and mass S7 fire shreds him (sigh).


Picture Caption: Well, the Archon ALMOST made it through.  Almost.

VPs:
DE: 7 (FB)
E: 5

----------------------------
Turn 5: Dark Eldar/Eldar
----------------------------
Everyone surrounds the Wave Serpent.  I barely manage to immoblize it, but nobody can assault it.
The Wave Serpent fires at the Ravenwing, but only manages to immobilize it.



VPs:
DE: 7 (FB)
E:5

It's a close game, but we roll up another round and it goes into overtime!

------------------------
Turn 6: Dark Eldar/Eldar
-------------------------
I finally manage to crack the Serpent and then a mass assault by the Reavers and Artisan clean up the rest.




Result: DARK ELDAR VICTORY!

----------------------------------------------------------------

Post-Game Thoughts:
Well, that was pretty bloody all the way around.  The Knights were pretty well handled, and I think that the Archon may be keeping that Agonizer after all.  The suicide Scourges at least managed to take out a Wave Serpent, but then died horribly.  So it's sort of a questionable investment...  The Reavers did well by harrassing and doing sick HoW hits to the Wraithknight.  The Venoms were solid as always, and the Warriors likewise were alright.

The Dark Artisan was fun, but not that great, mostly as they were fighting against high S weaponry that made me skittish to push them out too fast.  The formation does make that Warlord VP VERY hard to get.  The Razorwing and Void Raven did alright as well, but I'm liking the Razorwing far more than the Raven at this point.  It offers a lot of very nice options with dealing with even high T targets if they're clumped up, and at a much cheaper investment than the Raven, which while it does more damage, the Dark Eldar don't seem to do that much better with it.  Or perhaps it was just because I was shooting it at Serpents...

Although it looked like it was a bit of a blowout in the end, I think that what isn't obvious is that I didn't have enough anti-tank to deal with the Serpents.  I got lucky, but in the end, you really need something to deal with the 3+ cover saves and 4 heat lances really aren't that great of a single shot answer.  I might go back to Fire Dragons, as even though they died to the Artisans, they held the flank pretty well.  Plus, everyone is afraid of melta-bombs.
Oh, and yes, that Ravager may be getting rotated out after this fight.  Immobilization is just too much of a danger given my rolls...

Overall, it was a pretty tough battle, and if my rolls weren't as good or my opponent's rolls were a bit better things could easily have swung the other way.

Oh and Congrads to Archon Sharrek for his successful guess and ONE MORE BT POINT.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Gloriana felt her head swim for what felt like ages.  Was she dead?  Almost?  Did it matter?  She had fallen.  Illandara wouldn't bother to recover her.  She had gambled and lost everything.  Senseless and stupid.  Why did she even bother?  What was going...

Then she noticed that something was different.  She was sitting in a room.  A familiar room.  Full of sculptures.  Her sculptures.

A polite cough made her turn and in doing so, she realized that she wasn't in her armor.  How was this possible?  She had destroyed her studio when she turned to the Path of the Fire Dragon.  The flames consumed everything.  There was no possible way that...

"Do you like it?"

Gloriana paused as she saw that it was Thielbane, wearing his usual Farseer garb, but unarmed and unarmored.  He was alone.  Why?

"What...  What is all this?  This place cannot exist.  Is it...  Is this some kind of trick?"

Thielbane waved a hand in the air, "Sort of...  We're in your mind Glory.  In all honesty, you're sort of hurt pretty bad and Bella is fixing you up.  Nothing permanently broken, but I thought we should have a chat before Y'stral gets to running around.  Your mind... retreated to a safe place.  I delved in and well...  I'm sort of surprised really."

"...  You must be mistaken, Farseer, this...  this is not..."

"Glory, please.  Let's not be Farseer and Exarch for a moment."

Thielbane took a few steps towards her, and for a moment, Gloriana saw the youngling that had stolen her heart so many years ago.

"Th...  Thielbane, I...  I..."

"I just have to know, Glory,  I have to know...  Why did you do it?"

"Why?  Why?!" Gloriana found her own voice rising of it's own accord, "You...  You ran off with the abominations, you ran away from the Craftworld...  You ran away from me.  I try to save you and you just.  won't.  let.  me."

She held her head in her hands and tried not to cry, tried not to show weakness.  To be the Mask again.  To be strong, unflinching.  But, the Mask was not here.

There was another pause and Thielbane was kneeling in front of her.  Somehow he seemed more familiar, younger, like a memory taking shape.

"Glory, I'm...  I'm sorry.  I didn't know you felt this way.  But, I'm...  I'm not lost.  A lot has happened to me before I returned and as much as you may not like it, some of it was right.  Can you give me a chance to show you?"

Gloriana looked up at his smiling face.  What was the worst that could happen?

--------------------------------------------------
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

BigToof

Quote from: Mabbz on January 12, 2015, 08:31:01 AM
My eternal optimism has done me fairly well so far, so I'll keep it. They both survive!

Thanks for the reply Mabbz!

They both almost did.  Almost.  But the suicide drop is named for a particular reason...

I'm considering switching the Scourges for Fire Dragons or Harlies though.  I hope they'll be as fun.

Quote from: Archon Sharrek on January 12, 2015, 10:02:05 AM
I was going to say that they'd both die, given that Y'stral is in a 'suicide drop' and Bella is the warlord and the mission may hinge on getting those secondaries. But I feel that she may survive due to her unit and her warlord trait, and that you opponent doesn't have a huge amount of fire power. It'll probably be close though, seeing as how much AP 1/2 those Fire Dragons and Wraithguard can throw out...

Looking forward to the rest!

Dead on about the suicide drop, and those S10 shots are really quite scary.
But I suppose you're right about the firepower.  It's just that three serpents are a firebase in and of itself!

Quote from: Cammerz on January 12, 2015, 12:15:15 PM
Yay! Bigtoof's alive!

A great start to the report BT, advances in the over-arching plot are good for fluff and the fluff is the main reason I read these.

Two wraithknights look scary but hopefully your mass poison will deal with them fairly quickly. Overall I reckon you've got this one and I'm going to place my vote in favour of both characters surviving, although I was tempted to only give Bella my support. Y'Stral won't be too pleased that she's usurped his position.
I also reckon that Y'Stral would be much more likely to survive if the knights go down to poison early, if they engage him he's screwed.

Great to see you back BT, happy new year, I look forward to the rest of the battle.

Hi Cammerz!
Thanks for the reply.  I'm glad the fluff makes with your approval :)
The new meta is always interesting, but I like to keep things as character oriented as possible.
If only I could add more fluff, but I'm not sure if that would make things more or less disjointed.
Thinking about making a Harlie rep when their codex drops.
Any thoughts?

Best,
-BT
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3

Cammerz

Nice rep BT, I like Bay'tor's new friend particularly.

I've personally stopped playing at the moment thanks to my gaming club closing and the fact that I haven't proceeded to the new edition so I'm losing touch with whatever the current meta is but I do enjoy reading what happens in your games.

I've had a brief look at the new harlequins and I'd certainly like to see a battle report with them, mainly because I remember the first time you introduced them as characters and the Death Jester in particular was writen very well.

I look forward to seeing what's next.

Job's a good un!

Archon Sharrek

Well, I'm a tad late to the party again, but this was excellent! I have to agree with Cammerz the fluff makes these come alive. I absolutely lost it when Cuddles arrived, and when Y'stral lost his kill-boner. Bad luck with the ravager, they scare the pants off me, and immobilizing right out the gate was a bit of a kick in the nads by the dice gods there.

Not sure what else to say other than; this was awesome and I'm looking forward to the next one! I also would like to see some of the new Harlequins in action when the codex drops.

In reference to my statement about the opponents firepower I had quite plum forgotten that Serpents could shoot their shields...my bad.

Also, YAAAAAY! BT Point! Going two for two so far! Are they edible?
Taking the theme of Tau and Dark Eldar allies, and having fun with it.

"That's EVIL EMPEROR ZURGIE-BABY, TO YOU!" - Evil Emperor Zurg

"Jim-cracking Dandy!" - Evil Emperor Zurg

BigToof

Holy moly this thread went crazy :)

Thank you all for the kind comments and views!

Quote from: Cammerz on February 01, 2015, 10:47:25 PM
Nice rep BT, I like Bay'tor's new friend particularly.

I've personally stopped playing at the moment thanks to my gaming club closing and the fact that I haven't proceeded to the new edition so I'm losing touch with whatever the current meta is but I do enjoy reading what happens in your games.

I've had a brief look at the new harlequins and I'd certainly like to see a battle report with them, mainly because I remember the first time you introduced them as characters and the Death Jester in particular was writen very well.

I look forward to seeing what's next.

Job's a good un!

Hi Cammerz,
Thanks for the reply!
I'm glad you liked Cuddles.  I think I might bring her back as she's fun to write and the 4+ FNP is very nice to have.
Sorry to hear that gaming isn't in your near future, but I'm happy to help with any of my reps :)
And I so, so hope that the Death Jester is good.  Heavens knows I'll bring him!

Quote from: Archon Sharrek on February 02, 2015, 03:07:57 AM
Well, I'm a tad late to the party again, but this was excellent! I have to agree with Cammerz the fluff makes these come alive. I absolutely lost it when Cuddles arrived, and when Y'stral lost his kill-boner. Bad luck with the ravager, they scare the pants off me, and immobilizing right out the gate was a bit of a kick in the nads by the dice gods there.

Not sure what else to say other than; this was awesome and I'm looking forward to the next one! I also would like to see some of the new Harlequins in action when the codex drops.

In reference to my statement about the opponents firepower I had quite plum forgotten that Serpents could shoot their shields...my bad.

Also, YAAAAAY! BT Point! Going two for two so far! Are they edible?

Thanks for the reply Archon Sharrek!
I'm glad the fluff was pleasing and you can bet that Eldar are still in the future.
The Ravager fail was sort of galling, I have to admit.
The BT point means that I tend to pay more attention to your comments and if you have suggestions for the fluff, they may have a higher chance of being realized :)

Best,
-BT
BigToof Points:

Cammerz: 8
Waaaghpower: 1
The Man They Call Jayne: 3
Mabbz: 6
Archon Sharrek: 3