Bright Lords vs. Dark Eldar (750pts) in "Candles in the Dark"

[Lord Sotek]

This previous Thurdsay, I finally got to play my very first, genuine, tabletop-and-not-vassal game of 40k; as well as debut my homebrew chapter for their first in-game battle. I had the privelige of fighting against my friend Jeremy's ever-nefarious Dark Eldar.

In honor of the event, and in honor of the many entertaining yarns BigToof (whose format I am shamelessly stealing) has provided me, I present to you: My first ever battle report!



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THE LISTS
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BRIGHT LORDS 'ERRANT' TASK FORCE:
(Proxied using Space Wolf rules)
748 pts.

Knight-Lieutenant Matthias (Wolf Guard Battle Leader) - 120 pts.
*Power Falchion (Frost Blade), Plasma Pistol, Saga of the Beastslayer.

Ancient Brother Malachai - 115 pts
   (Dreadnought w/ Autocannon, DCCW, SB)

Veteran Squad Lyras -  88 pts
*6x Knights-Errant (Wolf Guard)
   *5x Storm Bolters, 1x Combi Melta, 6x Bolt Pistols

Tactical Squad Atrus - 160 pts
*10x Bright Lord Errants (Grey Hunters)
   *8x Bolters, 2x Plasma Guns

Tactical Squad Levi - 150 pts
*10x Bright Lords Errants (Grey Hunters)
   *8x Bolters, 2x Flamers

DARK ELDAR PIRATES:
Haemonculus
9x Kabalite Warriors
3x Venoms with two Splinter Cannons apiece
What must have been 10-12 Reaver jetbikes
Small squad of Blasterborn
Raider
Ravager with three Disintigrators

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Prologue: Remembrance
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Restrained though he was by his crash webbing, Matthias found it hard to sit still.

Handsome, dark-red haired, with the ageless look of the Astartes in his angular olive-skinned features, the Knight-Lieutenant chafed at his own inaction. Stuck waiting as the black-and-gold Storm Eagle and its sister craft ferried himself and his brethren planetside, shearing through the atmosphere of Adrelon like a knife.

Adrelon. Homeworld of Saint Astreleine, who had lead her all-volunteer Imperial Guard regiment valiantly beside his forebearers in the Merkabah Crusades, centuries ago. More than once her fearless piety had stalled threats that could have crippled the Bright Lords' advance. More than rumor said the faith-healing that ultimately cost her life had tipped the scales and kept then-Captain Mordecai alive long enough to be interred within one of the Chapter's dreadnoughts. As far as the Bright Lords were concerned, the woman was an Eloh; a person of blessed memory, transfigured in death to a harbinger of the Emperor's own divine spirit. Such debts as they owed to her could not be forgotten.

And now the peaceful world of her birth had sent out a distress beacon. Xenos raiders, defiling and abducting as they came. Never mind that the Bright Lords could not afford to send a proper detachment or divert a ship from their mighty fleets. Never mind that their closest fellow marines would be countless lightyears distant, that the Forsworn Oaths would have to be taken by any who left their command structure within the chapter, binding their lives and honor into exile for the duration of the mission.

Matthias looked to the bulk of Mordecai's dreadnought chassis beside him and smiled grimly. Aye, never mind all that. The calls of friendship and honor beckoned to this quest, and the Knight-Lieutenant's Errants would answer. The local Admech's augur-stations had indicated that the next raid would be on Astreleine's own hometown; the enemy would find the Bright Lords waiting, ready to repulse them.

"Passing over the mark in five, Abir," the gunship's pilot broke in respectfully; using the native tongue of Siyyon Shachar, the Chapter's star-fortress home, to address Matthias by his knightly rank.

"Acknowledged," Matthias returned, feeling the fearsome punch of the craft's sudden deceleration to deployment speed. Pulling himself free of his harness, he roared over the sudden howling as the Storm Eagle's rear hatch groundopen. "Brothers, the time is upon us! Onwards and upwards, Bright Lords- And mark!"

Over thirty marines leapt backwards out of the slow-moving gunships, rolling lightly to break the momentum of their fall before coming up on one knee, bolters at the ready. A few seconds later, the ground shook as Mordecai detached from his harness and made his own thunderous landing. Gun sights swept in all directions, taking in the calm, temperate outpost town they found themselves in; but all was quiet.

All was too quiet.

All execept the flayed skins flying from each watchtower's flagpole; fluttering wetly in the breeze, and far, far too small to have belonged to a full-grown human being.

"Throne's damnation," one Marine cursed, striking a nearby wall with his fist. "We're too late."

Matthias' eyes hardened, because if they did not, he knew they would weep. He did the only thing he could to forestall it; he wiped mist from his eyes and started barking orders.

"Yoav, I need your Devastators at the best vantage point you can find. Sergeant Atrus, take your men on point and head in to the center of the village; I will bring the rest along behind you. We may search for survivors as we go, but whatever else, we must know whether Astreleine's shrine still stands."


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Mission: The Relic

Setup: Hammer and Anvil

Warlord Traits:
-Matthias: Target Priority (Friendlies within 12" are twinlinked if they're shooting someone off an objective. Sweet!)
-DE: Strategic Genius (Shame he had no reserves...)
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Deployment and Setup: We played on one of the tables the game store already had ready, a temperate outpost area with a villa, several towers and bastions, and moderate, more or less symmetrical arrangement of terrain and cover. The Relic went smackdab in the center of the board, according to the mission parameters.

Jeremy won the diceoff to go first, so I deployed the Bright Lords in a rough skirmish line, hanging just shy of my deployment zone's edge and ready to swoop in on the objective. I set my Devastators up in the villa watchtower, and placed two of my more valued assets, Mordecai and Squad Atrus, where they'd hopefully be out of LOS to start of with, but still have a good position on the objective. Matthias and his stormbolter buddies went in the center, so that as much of my army as possible could benefit from his warlord trait.

Jeremy set his Dark Eldar up in a fairly intimidating screen of vehicles, with the Ravager lurking behind a bastion, a Raider full of Kabalites and his Haemonculus facing towards me sideways to block line of sight to the gunship, and a trio of Venoms backed up by a hefty squadron of Reaver jetbikers on his left flank. I was told that there were Blasterborn in one of the Venoms.



With that, we roll to start the game... And sweet throne of Terra if the Bright Lords don't up and steal the initiative!

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"I have the shrine in sight now, Brother-Lieutenant," Atrus voxed, a note of relief in his voice. "It seems as yet unsullied, though I know not why the attackers left it untouched. I rather doubt reverence for the Emperor's own stayed their hands..."

"Matthias!" The familiar tones of grizzled old Yoav's voice cut in across the vox-net, interrupting Atrus. The knight-lieutenant's gaze swung west, where Yoav's men had set themselves up in the terrace of an abandoned villa. Only a Marine as veteran as Yoav would address his superior so familiarly, and only with good reason would he interrupt a fellow Sergeant to do so. In another instant, Matthias' intiution was confirmed.

"Reiver grav-craft, Matthias! Coming in low and fast from the south, and converging on your position. Throne-cursed Dark Eldar, by the looks of those prows; ship me to Tasal if they're not."

A collective hiss issued from the company's throats. Dark Eldar; few did the Bright Lords revile more. While many terrible foes threatened the Emperor's flock, few targeted them so specifically, or with such twisted delight, as the Dark Kin seemed to. Matthias cursed to the accompaniment of a sudden flash of insight; the shrine had been left intact as bait. The pirates had been hoping any relief forces would rush blindly towards it, so that then they could surround and swoop down on their distracted prey all at once. Well, the Bright Lords would be no one's prey, and no one's fool. The Errant gave thanks to the Emperor yet again for his earlier caution and Yoav's attentive gaze.

"Bright Lords, hear me! Dark Eldar on approach, headed towards the shrine. They think they'll be pouncing on us unawares, so stand ready- We will spring their own trap upon them, and show them what sort of welcome Saint Astreleine reserves for Xenos scum!"
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[Lord Sotek]

Turn 1: Bright Lords
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"ELDAR SCUM ENTERING VIABLE RANGE IN THREE... TWO... ONE..." Mordecai rumbled, targeting the lead craft as best as he could around the massive tower the foe were using to shelter their approach.

"THEY ARE WITHIN OPTIMUM DISTANCE, LIEUTENANT. REQUESTING PERMISSION TO ENGAGE."

"Permission granted," Matthias snarled, the marines around him racking slides on their bolters. "Bright Lords! Yoav! In the name of Elmelekh on his Throne... OPEN FIRE!"
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I advance my skirmish line forwards 6", headed to get somebody on that relic ASAP and moving up to get my guys in dakka range of all that AV 10.

Mordecai opens the hostilities, firing at the barely-visible side armor of the Ravager with his autocannons. He hits, causing one glance and one pen; but sadly, 4+ cover from the bastion sees the Kabalite gunship untouched. Darn. "Missed it by That Much!"

Matthias, his squad of stormbolter-toting Errants, and the front rank of Squad Levi all open up on the Venoms with their bolters, but between poor rolls and the Venoms' invulnerable saves, they don't accomplish anything.

Yoav's devastators take the cake this turn however, as they Split Fire; the heavy bolters annihilate the Raider, opening up line of sight for a trio of Krak missiles to soundly immobilize the Ravager. Hooray!

Kabalites and a Haemonculus spill out of the downed Raider; their transport's explosion mulches five of them and wounds the Haemonculus, though they fail to be Pinned by this turn of events. Not that I have any grounds to complain about it.



Turn 1: Dark Eldar

The Dark Kin are not happy with Yoav and friends at this point. Jeremy's Reavers Bladevane Yoav himself to pieces, and his Venoms pour an absurd amount of fire (this is going to become a theme) into finishing the rest of them off for good. The immobilized Ravager fires at Levi's squad with its heavy weapons, and the recently unhorsed Warriors do the same against Matthias's veterans; they each kill a Marine apiece, knocking the combi-melta out of Matthias' squad. I quietly pick my jaw up off the floor at the Reaver's speed, as they make their assault move and are now behind the villa; completely the opposite side of the table from where they started.



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Turn 2: Bright Lords
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Matthias cried out as he watched his friend torn to pieces by a swarm of Dark Eldar on scythe-winged jetbikes, the vox of congratulation stillborn as the rest of his fire support fell to a storm of splinter cannon rounds. Tearing his attention back to the battlefield, he watched a squad of alien warriors scramble from the wreckage of their downed transport, a grotesque, multi-limbed figure at their head, wielding an array of what looked like nightmarish surgeon's tools. It gestured towards the shrine with a smile entirely too wide and full of too many teeth to be natural, and the Knight-Lieutenant's blood boiled at the thought of what a Haemonculus might have planned for the bones of an Imperial saint. "There," he snarled, pointing with his outstretched blade. "Concentrate your fire on their leader. Cut them down before they can reach that shrine! We have failed the people of this settlement, but we will not fail to defend an Elohim's remains!"

As bolter fire and splinter rounds wailed back and forth, Sergeant Atrus urged his own men further forwards. Defense alone was not enough; they might not be able to hold here, and if they were pushed back, Astreleine's reliquary would fall into enemy hands. Unless he could get to it first...
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The Skirmish Line footslogs up some more, with Atrus' plasma-gunner squad running a further 3" towards the Relic. I choose what I think is a gamble; having seen their speed in the previous turn, I know I don't have anything that can effectively engage the threat posed by his Reavers, so I ignore them in favor of playing the objective.

Mordecai attempts to gun down the closest Venom with his autocannons, but fails to cause any meaningful damage despite two clear hits.

Levi's men continue to fire their bolters, also ineffectually, at the Venoms.

Matthias's squad send a hailstorm of bolter rounds downrange towards the Kabalites, killing two and finishing off the Haemonculus- I now have Slay the Warlord!



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Turn 2: Dark Eldar

The Ravager, immobilized but still very much in the action, kills Sergeant Levi and one of his squad's flamer marines in a hail of disintigrator fire. Then the Venoms turn their guns on Squad Levi as well.

Note to self: Watching someone roll thirty-six shooting dice between three vehicles is honestly kind of terrifying.

By some miracle, and the magic of Power Armor, I emerge from the other side of this with only two more marines dead, but the rest of the squad brick their Morale check and fall back nine inches. I can't really blame them, either.

The Reavers display their jawdropping speed again, blitzing across the table to Bladevane down two marines from Matthias' squad before using their Assault move to end the turn safely behind a building and out of line of sight. These Reavers are really starting to make me nervous, the sneaky gits... I'm starting to wonder if ignoring them isn't going to bite me in the ass really soon.

[Lord Sotek]

After Way Too Bloody Long (tm), I bring you: The stunning conclusion!


Turn 3: Bright Lords
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Matthias allowed himself a feral grin as the last few shells from his squad's magazines finally tore the haemonculus apart. He took a moment to survey the battlefield as they reloaded their storm bolters; between the dryness of the ground and the activity of the Xenos hovercraft, the fighting had kicked up choking clouds of dust and smoke across much of the area. Even with his helmet's enhanced senses, he could barely make out any of the marine's in Levi's squad, but they seemed to have stopped pressing forwards... What was going on out there?

It was at that moment that a message bust across the vox-net.

"Levi to Matthias. Lieutenant, they are pressing us hard on the left flank. We cannot advance."

"Can you hold, Brother?" Matthias asked, began to recognize the sinking feeling in his stomach.

"My squad is out of cover, and they are bringing an enormous weight of fire to bear on us, sir. Still, we shall do what we ca- Augh!"

"Levi!" Matthias yelled, hearing his comrade's message cut short by an unmistakable cry of pain. "Levi, what is your status?"

Then came the words a commander hopes never to hear.

"Levi has fallen, Lieutenant! We are taking heavy losses; the flank cannot hold here!"

His thoughts racing, Matthias pushed past the lump in his throat and keyed his helmet's vox rune. "Understood, brother. Gather the fallen and withdraw to the villa, quickly; I need you to find Yoav's men before we leave here. Some of our casualties may not be beyond saving, and if they are not... We cannot let these fiends claim their bodies if we lose the flank. Mordecai! Cover their retreat!

"I HEAR AND COMPLY," the Dreadnought thundered, footfalls shaking the ground as he surged forwards. "GO, LITTLE BROTHERS, AND FEAR NOT!"

Splinter fire pinged off of his adamantium hull, to little effect. "NONE SHALL PASS, YOU MISBEGOTTEN XENOS FILTH!" the ancient walker roared, autocannons punching a concussive drumbeat at every word. "IN THE EMPEROR'S NAME, I COMMAND YE; DIE!"

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Atrus' squad moves up and succesfully claims the relic! Matthias moves his men up a few inches to keep them close and able to support the objective-takers, and Mordecai stomps out into the open, chasing after the Venoms like a mad thing. He pens twice with his autocannon, but the Venom makes both of its invulnerable saves; all that dust that got kicked up must have thrown his aim. Again. >.>

Matthias & co continue to try and gun down the last two Kabalite warriors, but only succeeds in forcing them to Go to Ground.

However, my turn ends on a brighter note, as the plasma gunners in Sergeant Atrus' squad each cause a penetrating hit on the downed Ravager, finally blowing it up!




Turn 3: Dark Eldar
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Reliquary finally in hand, Atrus turned just in time to see a bevvy of darting shapes erupt from behind one of the buildings, swooping down towards the now-distracted Dreadnought.

"Flanking units!" he roared across the vox. Bolter fire chattered through the air as his Marines tried to dissuade the attackers from their target, but the foe was too far away, and moving too fast. They were already almost on top of the ancient warrior, one of them leveling a fearsome-looking weapon of some kind.

"Mordecai, behind you! Look out!"

I gnaw my nails practically to the bone as the Reavers pop out from hiding and shoot Mordecai right in the back with a Heat Lance. It hits. It's within melta range. I reach to take poor Mordecai off the table.

Then, miraculously, it fails to penetrate on 2d6.

Any thoughts of dancing a jig about this turn of events are cut short, as the Venoms shoot Atrus and two of his squadmates off of the relic. The Reavers use their assault move to zip back into hiding behind the warehouse again, denying me even the satisfaction of some next-turn revenge shooting.



Turn 4: Bright Lords
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Atrus' legs were gone, replaced by gory, poison-blackened ribbons from the hip down. He lay semi-conscious, borne along by the hands of fellow marnines; they could not abandon a brother any more than they could waste time to pry the reliquary from him in his delerious state.

"Brother-Lieutenant, the relic is ours! I repeat, the relic is ours!" A cheer broke out over the vox-net at the news.

"Acknowledged, Squad Atrus! Make all haste to the extraction point; we will take it from here."

Matthias swept his falchion before him, eyes blazing. "Knight-errants to the van! Let us give these xenos something else to focus their vile attentions on! Onwards and upwards, Bright Lords; our blood, our fury buys Squad Atrus the time they need! Etiam si nobis mori- Lux permanet!"

In unison roared their echoed reply:  "LUX PERMANET!"
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Squad Atrus makes their morale check, and pulls back six inches, bringing the Relic along with them. Matthias moves along in support, and the two squads combine their fire, attempting to scourge the remaining Kabalites off of the board. Sadly, they only kill one, and Atrus' remaining plasma gunner overheats his weapon; though he manages not to melt himself doing it.

Mordecai rumbles up another six inches and tries his luck again- this time he finally gets his mark, glancing one of the remaining Venoms to death.



Turn 4: Dark Eldar
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If this were an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh, this would be the part where my opponent cackled, held up a finger dramatically, and proclaimed "Not so fast- You've activated my trap card!"

As it stands, that wasn't too far from what happened.

I gulp, as Jeremy once more springs his Reavers out from their hidey-hole, staring down Squad Atrus from approximately spitting distance. Then he points all of his remaining Venoms at Mordecai.

I gulp again.

A terrifying number of splinter-cannon and splinter rifle shots later, Mordecai is down a hull point, and the Reavers have shredded all but two Marines from squad Atrus. Who they then promptly assault, striking first, with a crapton of attacks plus Hammer of Wrath. Once these two guys are gone, the DE will have the relic, and will be able to smackdown any other squad I can still throw at them. I hold my breath as Jeremy picks up jangling double-handful of attack dice.



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It had happened in an instant. One second, they were withdrawing in an orderly fashion, at the center of a squad of Astartes. Then a storm of crystalline shards was felling their battle-brothers left and right, and the next instant, they were alone.

The pair of them stopped running, taking in the line of foes that bore down on their position. They looked to each other, nodded, and made peace with fate.

"I'll take the six on the right," Abishai laughed bleakly, locking his combat knife onto his bolter's bayonet lug. "You take the six on the left."

Berech nodded intently, drawing his own sword with a clear, whispering ring of scabbard on steel. The young Marine's hands did not shake in the slightest, Abishai noticed with pride. Time seemed to hang still for a moment; waiting, breathless.

Abishai exhaled.

Then the Reavers were upon them.

With a roar of "Eriam Lux!", the pair of them hurtled forwards into the hurricane of exhaust vents and blades; shouting, firing, ducking and weaving, cursing the foe as they countercharged. They slipped between the oncoming craft like wraiths, dodging strokes from cruelly curving swords and bladed fins, their armor saving them from glancing impacts they could not dodge. In an instant, the aliens that had passed banked towards them again, their leader training a wicked firearm on Abishai. Screaming, unable to aim his own pistol in time, Berech hurled his sword end over end; taking the alien straight through the chest with a dull crunch. The figure slumped off of its craft in a broken heap, while the other reavers looked on in shock. Unnerved by the loss of their leader, and by prey that neither cowered nor hid, they were uncertain whether to stand and fight, or jet away for another strike.

For a precious moment, they wavered.

Then Abishai and Berech were upon them.


...

......

...



The Throne graced me with a miracle. The Reavers piled in, rolled Far Too Many (tm) attacks... and every single one of them either whiffed, or bounced off of Astartes power armor.

Abishai and Berech passed their Leadership check to get Counterattack. They managed to pull down one Reaver in return.

I'd won combat by a wound. The Dark Eldar rolled to stay in the fight...

...And got Boxcars.

Then Abishai and Berech matched their initiative check, Sweeping Advanced, and ran them all down.

Jeremy and I both needed a few minutes to scrape our jaws off of the floor.

Turn 5: Bright Lords
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I have every one of my guys fall back their full 6" towards my table edge, and Mordecai blows up another Venom, splattering the Trueborn inside.

The movement is just barely enough to put Abishai and Berech back into my deployment zone with the relic. At this point, with only a single Venom and a cowering Kabalite warrior left standing, my opponent concedes the match.


BRIGHT LORDS VICTORY!



EPILOGUE:

Matthias beheld a chaos of flaming wreckage, prone Marine forms, and opaque, noxious smoke; his hearts sank within his chest, but then at last two battered, power-armored figures staggered out from the choking haze.

"Brother-Lieutenant," Berech panted, bent nearly double under weight of wounds, fading adrenaline, and the heavy reliquary vault; leaning on Abishai's shoulder to make up for a dragging left leg, he was covered in Eldar blood and shrapnel from head to toe, still clutching a broken-off, bladed chunk of jetbike in his free hand. Abishai nodded wearily to his senior officers before speaking.

"We've recovered the Relic, Abírim, but we will need your help to carry the dead and wounded."

"Acknowledged, brothers, and fall in," the Knight-Lieutenant replied, barely keeping the amazement from his voice. "Bear your wounds and your prize proudly; today, you have fought as heroes from the Great Crusades."

"Mordecai!" Matthias barked. "We're done here!"

"AYE," the Dreadnought growled out in satisfaction, smoke curling from the twin barrels of his autocannon. Beyond him, another skimmer came apart in a ferocious string of explosions and burning, pinwheeling corpses. Mordecai surveyed the carnage with evident relish as the last of the xenos craft veered off, fleeing for the horizon as fast as their afterburners could manage.

"SO WE ARE, LIEUTENANT. SO WE ARE."

* * *

And so concludes my first tabletop battle, and my first-ever Battle Report! Be sure to post and let me know what you think!

[Wargamer]

Ah, I cannot help but smile at seeing the Reavers, playing the irritating little game of hide and seek, get utterly smashed by the Dice Gods at a pivotal hour.

Remember, oh gamers; Nuffle, God of Dice, favours not bold and the brave.

Congratulations on your hard won victory. May it be the first of many!

[Lord Sotek]

I have zero doubt whatsoever that that little moment, plus me stealing the initiative, are what won this game for me. If the Reavers had hung in there, the rest of my army would have been picked apart trying futilely to get the relic back from the Dark Eldar; and if they'd gotten first turn, they would have simply had way too much momentum and steamrolled me from the get go. I am definately humble enough to realize that the Dice Gods, and not my generalship, brought me this victory.

Perhaps it was a fashion of beginner's luck? After all, it certainly delivered me a very... cinematic match.

[BigToof]

It's finally finished and well worth the wait!

An awesome ending that was really amazing on so many levels!

Best,
-BT

P.S.  Karma'd!