Battle Report: Dark Eldar vs. Chaos Marines

Round 2 of the Wasp Campaign saw my Chaos Space Marines being challenged by Anthony's Dark Eldar forces. We're both after resources to better our supply lines.  We're both keen to get superiority over the other ... in the event of an evil alliance later on (mwa ha ha!).

Mission: Battle Missions: Pillage (also known as "Resource harvesting"), 3 collection points.

Due to the rules and the current campaign situation, the points levels are not equal, so my marines have a slight advantage.  I've also got more power generators which gives me important advantages and as a result, I get first turn.

Dark Eldar Army List (1100 points):

Succubus with agonizer (85)

Haemonculous, scissor hands, liquifier gun (75)

4 Incubi (88) with raider (60)

10 kalibites with shredder, darklance (120)

9 kalibites with syrabite, blaster (106) with raider (60)

9 wyches, shardnet and impaler, syren, agonizer, haywire grenades (148) with raider (60)

Ravager gunship with night shields and flicker field (125)

6 jetbikes with 2 cluster caltrops (172)

Chaos Space Marines (1150 points):

Daemon Prince, Wings (130 points)

Dreadnought, plasma cannon (105 points)

5 plague marines, 1 flamer, 1 melta, 1 plague champion with powerfist (170 points)

5 plague marines, 1 flamer, 1 melta, 1 plague champion with powerfist (170 points)

1 Rhino with Havoc Launcher (50 points)

1 Rhino with Havoc Launcher (50 points)

6 Chaos raptors, 1 aspiring champion with power fist, 2 meltas (180 points)

1 obliterator (75 points)

1 obliterator (75 points)

Chaos Vindicator, Daemonic Possession (145 points)

Set up: There are four buildings (roughly one in each table quarter) and five craters (in a "plus" shaped pattern across the table).  The three objectives are set up with two in opposite buildings and the third next to the crater in my deployment zone.  

Turns 1 and 2.

I open up with a volley lethal enough to whack several of the Dark Eldar's vehicles with the obliterators whom I've set up inside the buildings.  Sadly for me, armour penetration rolls are all ones.  Doh.  I advance my flying troops (raptors and a daemon prince).  I manage to get about one kill in the first turn overall due to my dreadnought, which isn't really good enough.  My vindicator is useless.  The plague marines set up in the building with the objective so that at least I can score points (1 per turn per objective as per the mission rules), whilst the second marine squad sits in their rhino behind the vindicator, jealously guarding a second objective.  The dark eldar keep to this buildings on the opposite side of the table -- I think I'm going to need a flamer over there eventually.

In their turn, the dark eldar move to meet my raptors as pictured below.  Sadly for my raptors, they're little match for the high initiative of the deadly dark eldar.  They're annihilated in one turn.  Flat.  But I think I can turn that to my advantage.  The dreadnought cannot be hurt by the dark eldar that slew the raptors, and -- thanks to their charge -- are in range for a counter-charge of my own.

Meanwhile, the daemon prince laughs off the puny shooting of the dark eldar HQ's squad.  Things are swimmingly over on that side of the board.  Even my plague marine squad manages one kill on that squad from their comfortable place sitting on top of the objective.  The vindicator finishes off the job before the daemon prince needs to get too involved.  Sadly for me, the vindicator goes up in smoke the next turn from a well placed dark lance.  Boom!  Why did the die roll ones for me on the first turn?!  Darn!

Turns 3 and 4.

I execute my plan and get my dreadnought in to combat with opponents that cannot hurt it back.  Sadly, all the attacks miss, or fail to wound.  Yet more ones on my die rolls are stuffing up my plan!  Still, the dreadnought is happy to sit pretty (or ugly?) for the rest of combat - secure that nothing bad can happen to it.

The jet-bikes launch their assault and skim over the daemon prince -- taking several wounds off him.  A few shots later and the daemon prince meets its maker.  I can't let those jet bikes live, so I target them with several well placed havoc launcher shots and a rapid fire from the plague marine squad that was sat behind the (now smoky) vindicator.

Meanwhile, my dreadnought finally finishes the job and moves right along.  But singularly fails to blow up the ravager gunship with its plasma cannon.  What is it with my dreadful vehicle damage rolls today?  Still an immobile ravager is an okay result.  Next turn, I'll be able to charge it and hit automatically!

The obliterators, meanwhile, continue to decimate the opposition.  There are very few dark eldar troops left, and only the ravager by this stage.  I decide that I've now got enough pillage points from sitting pretty on my two objectives that I can move the marine squads away from their objectives and try for the massacre.  

Turn 5.

The dreadnought destroys the ravager with ease in close combat, but gets blasted to bits in the next turn.  

The plague marines really suffer as they approach the kalibite held building (and objective).  The liquifier guns roll 1 for armour penetration for the second consecutive turn, reducing my squad to two marines.  A return flamer shot reduces the kalibites down to four men (or women?).

Simultaneously, my second plague marine squad moves up to where the first one used to be -- on the objective near the crater and holds that. I have both plague marine squads left (albeit with 2 in one of the squads), both rhinos and one obliterator left.  Anthony has four kalibite warriors sat on his singular objective.  And the game ends!

I didn't make it across the board fast enough to secure a massacre.  But it has been a decisive victory: 9 to 5 in terms of pillage points, and the secondary objective (kill the HQ) secured.  That means in terms of Empire Points, the score is 7-3.  Another victory to the chaos space marines.  I trust the dark eldar will serve us later in the campaign when we go 2 on 2, or 3 on 3 apocalypse style...

The star of the show for me were my obliterators.  Despite rubbish armour penetration rolls initially, their plasma cannon shots decimated the opposition's foot soldiers.  And for the dark eldar, those liquifier guns were terrific!  At AP1, even plague marines die with ease.