HOME DBM EPIC 40 000

IMPERIAL ASSAULT

Segmentum Pacificus; Agriworld Zealandia; Christos Island; 06/23/42001; 2305 Hours; Thought for the Day: Unity Bringeth Victory.

This game was about 2800 points a side. Nick and Dave attacked with Imperials, while I defended with Eldar. We had organised to have two players a side, but Andy (another Eldar player) was unable to make it on the day. Fortunately I had enough Eldar to make up numbers. The scenario was Dawn Assault with the Eldar defending against an Imperial attack. Rules were E40k with FP1 amendments and a few houserules as usual.

TURN 1

Half the Eldar detachments started in reserve, the remainder set up around the Imperial objectives on the halfway line. My plan was to fall back where the Imperials pressed strongly and target the weak parts of the Imperial line as they advanced. Nick was on the Imperial right flank with Marines, while Dave was on the left with 4 Heavy Tanks, 2 Warhounds, a Leviathan, and lots of Imperial Guard Infantry.

The Eldar Titans took down the void shields on the Imperial Leviathan, only to have them regenerate as the Titans retreated. A few Night Spinner mono-filament clouds fell upon the Marine Land-Raiders slowing them down.

In photo above the Eldar Revenant is retreating behind the Phantom and Warp Spiders. In the photo below the eldar Night-Spinner Disrupt Artillery and Scout Squads can be seen, with Falcons and Fireprisms in front of them and the Phantom Titan to the right in the background. Two Warhound Scout Titans are coming through the wood in the background on the right (the indistinct red blobs!).

TURN 2

The advance continued for the Imperials. The Falcons and Fire Prisms popped up from behind some ruins, raking a Marine Infantry Detachment charging across open ground towards cover. Four squads including a Librarian were gunned down. A Marine Whirlwind destroyed a Falcon in return. Meanwhile the Phantom targeted the oncoming baneblades, crippling two of them. The two Warhounds opened fire at the Phantom, several hits passed through the holofield, blowing it up and destroying a Warp Spider Squad caught in the explosion. The 9 other Warp Spider Squads then warped into close combat from behind the ruins, severely damaging the Leviathan and one of the Warhounds, before weight of fire forced them to retreat. Over on the left flank the Marine Bikes and Speeders were assaulted and broken by a detachment of 10 Swooping Hawk Squads.

TURN 3

The Eldar left flank retreated this turn so the Marines continued their slow advance unopposed. The Eldar right flank was where the action was this turn. In the exchange of fire the Revenant and two damaged Baneblades were destroyed. The Warp Spiders again assaulted the Warhounds and Leviathan, as well as some Guard Infantry which had advanced to protect them. A number of infantry squads on both sides were destroyed as was the Leviathan. Then a Warhound suffered a reactor meltdown. The explosion damaged the other Warhound, and vapourised most of the Guard Infantry and all the remaining Warp Spiders! (Dave rolled 2d6 to get the cm diameter of the explosion and scored an 11! He's on the left, I'm on the right in the inset photo below.)

TURN 4

It was going to take a lot to save the Imperial cause this turn. Two Marine detachments were at half strength, most of the Imperial War Machines were wrecked, a Guard Infantry detachment was almost wiped out, and they were having to advance under heavy fire to their objectives. The Eldar had lost their two Titans and the Warp Spiders but all their reserves had now arrived and were in good positions.

The remaining Warhound had failed to repair either of its void shields and it had lost 1 of its 4 damage points. It moved behind cover, but a detachment of 5 Falcons and 3 Fireprisms moved forward to finish it off. The Warhound fell to their fire, but the Falcons and Fire-Prisms had in turn moved into range of Imperial Guard Heavy Weapons Squads. These managed to destroy all eight of the swift but lightly armoured grav-tanks!

On the other side of the field 2 Eldar Scorpion Heavy Tanks had arrived and blasted apart two Predator tanks and a Marine squad. A Marine detachment assaulted toward the last Imperial objective, gunning down two retreating Eldar Scout Squads. Two Eldar Night-Spinner detachments then targeted the Marine detachment, aiding a detachment of Eldar jetbikes which swooped in and threw the Marines back in a firefight.

At the end of the turn Imperial morale had fallen to -2 while the Eldar still had half their morale at 26. A victory to the Eldar.

CONCLUSION

Well it was an interesting game. The Imperials suffered mainly from a lack of determination in the advance of the Marine flank. Nick was understandably cautious facing a new enemy with the Marines, but it meant that Dave's forces absorbed most of the punishment! Dave only had a couple of small Imperial Guard Infantry detachments and 1 Shadowsword Tank left at the end, while Nick's Marines were still relatively intact. Being able to to fade away from the Marines and concentrate all my forces against the Guard was what won me the battle in the end, classic Eldar Tactics!

In a similar situation in the future, I might take fewer points than the opponents to make up for the disadvantage of split command. One mind is usually better than two when it comes to carrying out wargaming tactics.

I think the lesson 'Don't engage Imperial Titans in close combat unless it is absolutely necessary', was finally learned by me after this game! Imperial Reactors have a habit of blowing up, and taking everything nearby with them into oblivion!