The store where I usually do my gaming is holding this 8-week campaign where players fight with gradually-growing army lists, starting with 500-pt Combat patrols and going a little higher in points each week. The campaign is set on an Ork-inhabited planet (unimaginatively named “Orkland”) that has hidden, ancient technology on its surface that all of the major races want their hands on.
When I set about creating my list, I realized that if I took an all-Raider approach, I’d probably wind up being outnumbered by infantry-heavy armies. Here’s the list I used:

SCOUT FORCE, KABAL OF THE DARKENED SOUL

Squad Rukifellith -13 Warriors- 2 blasters, splinter cannon, Sybarite w. agonizer
Squad Jarazhi- 13 Warriors w. 2 blasters, splinter cannon, Sybarite w. agonizer
Squad Dralekh- 10 Warriors w. 2 dark lances
Squad Nethyr- 10 Warriors w. 2 dark lances

All of the boards used in this campaign have barren, rocky terrain that favours mobility (which, of course, is a bad thing for me).
Here’s my game results:



GAME 1- ORKS
My first opponent was the one I was hoping NOT to face (he regularly beats everyone he play against, and his new Ork force has been kicking ass all over the place). His patrol consisted of:
-Bad Dok with choppa and slugga
-9 Cyborks in Trukk w. rokkit launcha, red paint job
10 Trukk Boyz- burna, Nob w. power claw, mounted in Trukk w. rokkit launcha, red paint job
16 Slugga Boyz w. a few big shootas
1 Killa Kan w. big shoota or rokkit launcha (I forget which)

He won the first turn, and immediately zoomed down the flanks with his Trukk squads. On the left flank, I blew up his Trukk Boyz’ ride with accurate dark lance fire, then moved Squad Jarazhi up to rapid fire on the survivors, but I only killed 1 of them thanks to his decent cover saves. In exhange, the Trukk Boyz charged, wiped out Squad Jarazhi, and swept into Squad Dralekh. My Warriors actually fought well against the Orks (they actually won combat in the first round), but eventually were cut down by the brutes’ choppas.
The Cyborks’ Trukk, meanwhile, was cunningly placed behind terrain so that Squad Nethyr couldn’t draw a bead on them. Next turn, the Cyborks disembarked, charged, and wiped Squad Nethys out, then swept into Squad Rukifellith (which had meanwhile been taking hits from the Slugga Boyz’ big shootas). My Warriors held their ground at first, but couldn’t kill a single Ork (Rukifellith clearly forgot to turn his agonizer on, as he couldn’t wound a thing). Eventually, Squad Rukifellith was wiped out. My patrol had been massacred in three turns.

RESULT: LOSS

Lessons learned: Always try to move your squads away from disembarking Orks to buy yourself more firing or counterattacking options





GAME 2- EMPEROR’S CHILDREN
Still smarting from that nasty loss, the survivors of the ill-fated patrol found themselves pitted against the depraved warriors of the Emperor’s Children:

-Sorcerer w. Mark of Slaanesh, minor psychic powers, Dark Blade, Daemonic Aura, Daemonic Resilience, and some other stuff (joins 1st squad)
-6 Noise Marines- assorted Noise Marine weapons, including 2 blast masters, Champion w. lightning claw & power sword
-6 Noise Marines- 4 Sonic blasters, 1 blast master, Champion w. plasma pistol & power fist.

I won the roll to go first, and opened fire with my Dark lances on the Sorcerer’s squad, killing half of them with accurate fire. Stunned, my opponent advanced and returned fire, and a fierce firefight broke out. Eventually, his squad was reduced to the Sorcerer and a blast master-armed Noise Marine, while Squad Nethyr was reduced to one pinned Warrior with a Dark lance. Not taking any more chances, the reduced squad killed the last Warrior, while the sonic blaster squad killed a few of Squad Dralekh. In return, however, Squads Dralekh and Rukifellith wiped out the Sorcerer and his remaining warrior with concentrated fire.
Unnerved, the sonic blaster squad moved back, firing into Squad Rukifellith as they did so. Taking only light casualties, the squad advanced after the Emperor’s Children through a narrow path between the rocks, while Squad Jarazhi advanced along the other side. Massed fire from Squads Rukifellith and Dralekh reduced the enemy squad to only two members. In a doomed last stand, the Emperor’s Children fired their last few shots before more massed fire killed one warrior, while the Champion was charged and sliced apart by Rukifellith’s agonizer (though being killed by an agoniser is probably an enjoyably painful death for a Slaanesh-worshipper).

RESULT: VICTORY!

Lessons learned: killing Chaos fools is fun!




GAME 3- BIEL-TAN ELDAR

My third opponent was a Biel-Tan player whose combat patrol I had defeated once before, and was confident of doing again:

-6 Striking Scorpions- Exarch w. Scorpion’s Claw and Infiltrate
-6 Warp Spiders
-4 Dark Reapers- Exarch w. Eldar missile launcher and fast shot.

At the start of the game, I advanced Squad Jarazhi towards the Dark Reapers, with Squad Dralekh lending support, while the other two squads kept out of the Reapers’ LOS and s much open space between them and the Warp Spiders as possible (the Spiders spent the whole game hiding behind rocks). The Reapers had to move to get into a better firing position, which gave me plenty of time to pound them with dark lance and splinter cannon fire, killing all but the Exarch. The Scorpions, however, quickly moved up to intercept Squad Jarazhi, who opened fire and only succeeded in killing 1. The combined fire of the Reaper Exarch and the Scorpions wiped out more than half of Squad Jarazhi and sent the rest fleeing off the board.
With that done, the Reaper Exarch turned his attentions to Squad Dralekh (whose dark lances were just out of range), blasted them with plasma missiles, and sent them fleeing off the board as well. The Exarch then killed a few of Squad Rukifellith who were visible behind the rocks, forcing them to take better cover. With both forces resolved not to come out into the open, we concluded the game.

RESULT: LOSS

Lesson learned: always deploy dark lance squads a little further up.






GAME 4- SPACE MARINES (NIGHT GYRS)

After withdrawing from the grisly firefight with their weak Craftworld kin, my patrol encountered a force of Space Marines of the Night Gyrs -- a Raven Guard successor chapter:

-Captain w. combi bolter-plasma gun, power sword
-Command Squad- 5 Marines w. 2 plasma cannons
-7 Tactical Marines w. 2 plasma guns
-5 Scouts w. bolters & 1 heavy bolter
Traits: Have Faith in Your Battle Brothers, Cleanse and Purify, Faithful Unto Death

The Scouts started the game infiltrating on a hill top near Squad Dralekh. The rest of my army (which were out of LOS, or so I thought), manevered to get closer to his lines, and Squad Dralekh opened fire on the Command Squad. The return fire for the Command Squad and Scouts, however, killed more than half of Squad Dralekh and sent them fleeing off the board. Throughout the whole game, the Scouts fired over terrain from their elevated position and wreaked havoc on my army. Squad Nethyr got in a firefight with the Command Squad and whittled down their number, but suffered heavy casualties in return. Squad Jarazhi, meanwhile, suffered heavy casualties as well, and fled off the board.
Seeing how desperate the situation had become, Rukifellith led his squad in a charge against the nearby Tactical Squad. A fierce melee erupted, but eventually the Space Marines were slain by the Dark Eldar’s sheer numbers and Rukifellith’s agoniser. Victorious, Squad Rukifellith swept over the bodies of the Space Marines towards the Command Squad and opened fire, killing the last of the Space Marines and wounding the Captain. In exchange, the Scouts opened fire and killed all but two of Squad Rukifellith, but the Sybarite’s sheer ruthlessness kept him and his remaining Warrior from running.
The Captain, however, had other ideas, and promptly charged the last two Dark Eldar, beheading Rukifellith’s last Warrior with a swipe of his power sword. Rukifellith hissed a curse, but did not flee -- he was not going to lose to some upstart mon-keigh. The two foes circled one another warily. The Captain lunged forward, driving his power sword through Rukifellith’s torso. With his last breath, however, Rukifellith drove the blades of his claw-like agoniser into the Captain’s chest, taking his last wound and killing him.
As the two warriors fell to the ground in death’s embrace, the survivors on both sides retreated, leaderless, back to their respective camps. At the end of the game, only 3 members of Squad Nethyr and the Scouts remained on the board. Tallying up the victory points, we found that the game was a draw.

RESULT: DRAW

Lesson learned: NEVER forget that you can fire over terrain if you’re standing on high terrain yourself.



Under cover of darkness, the Dark Eldar patrol force set up a temporary camp. They had suffered heavy losses in one day, and the best they could do now was sit back and await reinforcements . . .