Angry Marines vs. Dark Eldar

[Slider Da Feral]

Most of this stems from memory as I only took 2 pictures due to a low battery.

(EDIT: Added running total of kill points)

 

The venue: Game Empire, San Diego, CA

 

The terms: Pitched Battle, Annihilation

 

Angry Marines (using Blood Angels rules)

 

Bruisiarch Mofo (Reclusiarch with bolt pistol/crozius)

1x Pissed-Off Priest (vanilla Sang Priest)

Angry Squad (5-man assault squad, no jetpacks, 1x meltagun)

Razorback (w/LasPlas)

Black Brothers (5-man Death Company, no jetpacks, 1x TH/BG, 1x PW, 1x Hand Flamer)

 

Piough'd Priest is attached to the Angry Squad, riding in the Razorback. Mofo leads the DC. Red Thirst roll for the Angry Squad came up empty.

 

Kabal of the Rising Sun

 

Haemonculus w/Dark Gate and hexrifle (one of the galaxy's fortunately rare female Haemos, as he was proxying an Infinity mini for it)

Wych Cult (9-woman squad with haywire grenades, 1x agonizer)

Raider (w/dark lance)

Kabalite Warriors (10-man squad, 1x dark lance, 1x blaster)

3x Reavers (1x heat lance)

 

Haemo is attached to the Wyches, riding in the Raider. Combat Drugs roll came up reroll all failed wounds.

 

I win the roll and elect to go first, setting up my Razorback on my left center behind a building and the Black Brothers in a ruined building on my right.

 

Dark Eldar set up the Kabalites in a ruined building on their left-center, giving them a commanding view of the center. Reavers behind a building on their left, with the Raider behind another building on their right.

 

Dark Eldar attempt to steal the initiative... and SUCCEED!

 

Turn 1

Let the feeling-out process commence. Raider cautiously edges around the building, heading right. Reavers light their turbo-boosters and fly over their building, hugging the wall near the center. Kabalites are ruled to see enough of the Razorback to attempt a lance potshot, but the shot is stopped by cover.

 

Black Brothers move deeper into the building, heading forward as the wall in the center blocks their LOS to the Kabalites and jetbikes. Razorback floors it into the center and pops smoke.

(Conversation in the Razorback went something like this: "SMOKE?! YOU'RE NOT :cuss ANGRY ENOUGH!" "THOSE PRISSY SPACE QUEERS AREN'T THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN PLAN AHEAD, YOU D- :cuss!")

 

Kill points: Angry Marines 0, Dark Eldar 0

 

Turn 2

If you're playing Nitzer Ebb's "Join in the Chant" at home, this would be the part where they scream "FIRE! FIRE!" for the first time. Raider noses around its building to get LOS on the Razorback. Reavers dart in for shots at the Razorback. Two dark lances, 1 heat lance, and 1 blaster later, the only thing they have to show for it is a Crew Shaken result. Reavers use their assault phase movement to bounce over toward the ruined building on their right. This would be the first mistake made with the Reavers, as it put them out of LOS of the Black Brothers.

 

Black Brothers f- :cuss bust their way out of the building and fetch up against the central wall. The Razorback gets out of the line of fire of the Kabalites and also heads for the central wall.

 

Kill points: Angry Marines 0, Dark Eldar 0

 

Turn 3

Raider moves up to the ruined building where the Reavers are at. Reavers bounce in, take shots to no avail, and veer off to go play bubblewrap for the Raider.

 

Angry Squad piles out of the Razorback and advances on the Reavers. Razorback moves around to possibly get a clear shot at the Raider. Black Brothers move around the wall heading right, firing a torrent of bolter shells at the Kabalites, with typical Angry Marine shooting accuracy (not much). The Angry Squad fares far better, knocking down two jetbikes with bolter shells and melta blasts. It is judged that enough of the bubblewrap has been popped to grant clear LOS at the Raider, so the lascannon and plasma guns go to work on it. Raider goes up in a glorious fireball of released energy and twisted metal, claiming a Wych in the process!

 

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv1/SliderDF/WH40K%20WIP/IMAG0024.jpg

Before the pivotal lascannon / plasma fire. The storm bolter man on the Razorback is Not Really There; pay no attention to him.

 

With a cry of "FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-", the Angry Squad runs into melee, dragging down the lone surviving Reaver before he can escape the Emprah's Wrath a third time.

 

Kill points: Angry Marines 2, Dark Eldar 0

 

Turn 4

 

Haemo passes off her Pain Token to the Wyches and splits off from them as they advance, pouring splinter fire into the Angry Squad. Haemo had something planned for the Razorback and attempts to open a vacuum portal to the darkest depths of the Webway, right under the Razorback and the Angry Squad. However, the shot scatters enough to get the Angry Squad out of immediate jeopardy, and furthermore fails to drag the Razorback back to Comorragh. The Angry Techmarine crew, on the other hand, needs a few moments to get the blood pounding through their ears back down to an acceptable level (Crew Stunned result). On the right, a fusillade of splinter, lance, and blaster fire greets Mofo and the Black Brothers, but they shrug off all damage like an old overcoat.

 

Cackling their own praises to the foul gods they worship, the Wyches lay into the Angry Squad, only to find them tougher than they look. The meltagunner goes down at the cost of two of their number. Undaunted by their losses, the Wyches stay in the ruck.

 

Bolt fire drops a Kabalite and the Flames of Wrath erupt for the first time from the Black Brothers, claiming another dark eldar as they advance. Finally, Bruisiarch Mofo could see that the time was at hand. "ALWAYS ANGRY!" he shouted.

"ALL THE TIME!" came the Black Brothers' response as they rushed the Kabalites. ("Now you shall face the power of this less-than-fully-armored, but-by-no-means-less-operational Death Star!") Of all the attacks the Black Brothers laid upon the Kabalites in the ensuing melee, only one failed to wound. Yea, the Black Brothers fell upon their foe, overwhelmed them, and left not a single one alive. On the other hand, Brother Jamieson Angraw, the thunder hammer bearer, started grumbling about not getting to kill any dark eldar as Mofo reformed them in preparation to assist the Angry Squad.

 

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv1/SliderDF/WH40K%20WIP/IMAG0025.jpg

The Black Brothers triumph as the Angry Squad fights resolutely

 

The fight in the center continued apace, with two more Angry Marines falling, but not before one more Wych joined the pile of the dead upon the ground. Doggedly, the Angry Marines fought on.

 

Kill points: Angry Marines 3, Dark Eldar 0

 

Turn 5

 

Haemo (Haema?), She Who Crafts The New Flesh, peeked out around the corner toward the advancing Black Brothers and took a shot at Mofo with her hexrifle. However, the powerfield in his rosarius stopped the shot. The Wyches, sensing victory was at hand, fell upon the Angry Squad with renewed vigor, leaving only the Pissed-Off Priest alive at the end of the turn.

 

This is the part in the game where my dice rolling went utterly to pieces after having been so good all game. Mofo and the Black Brothers could barely manage 6 inches in total movement, including running. The Razorback moved around the melee to get a clear shot at Haema, only to have the lascannon miss completely and the plasma guns fail to wound. The priest fought valiantly, but in the end, succumbed to the Wyches' superior reaction times and power weapon.

 

Kill points: Angry Marines 3, Dark Eldar 2

 

Turn 6

 

Haema wanted no part of the Black Brothers. Let the Wyches deal with them once they finished with the Razorback. That didn't stop her from trying to plink Mofo once more with the hexrifle, but to no avail. The Wyches primed their haywire grenades and charged the Razorback, only to get two charges to stick, and one of those producing a mere Crew Shaken result.

 

After some deliberation over whether or not a tank shock would be worth it, the Razorback sped away from the Wyches, narrowly missing Haema as it sped to my left as far as it could go and slewed around readying for another turret shot. Mofo and the Black Brothers had made it over to where the rest of the battle was. The Flames of Wrath spoke again, rendering two Wyches into charcoal. One Black Brother fell to the Wyches as they stood their ground, accepting the charge with demonic grins on their faces, buoyed by the screams of the fallen Angry Squad. The Black Brothers were only able to drop one of the surviving Wyches in the bulk of their combat round, due in no small part to poor dice rolling and all the rerolls I was entitled to from Liturgies of Hatred completely slipping my mind. I did, however, remember my Thunder Hammer, and with two mighty swings, the last of the Wyches were sent flying, never to get up again, and my opponent had no recourse but to concede.

 

Final kill point score: Angry Marines 4, Dark Eldar 2

 

Lady Luck can be either a grand dam or an old nag, and this game, she was both. She did play the old nag more to my opponent, though, despite my abysmal rolling late in the game.