Orkland Campaign- Part 2
I had to miss the second week of the campaign, as I had a test to study for. Thankfully, this week I had much less work to do, and so I managed to attend it. I quickly discovered that, in my absence, the point limit had risen from 500 to 625 to 750. All of the games this week were played using the Recon mission. Remembering advice given to me by some of the guys on EldarOnline for expanding my list, I added more Warriors, a pair of Haemonculi, and a Talos:
Here’s my expanded army list:
Rethyk- Haemonculous w. destructor & scissor hand (joins Squad Jarazhi)- 50 pts
Qelyr- Haemonculous w. destructor & scissor hand (joins Squad Rukifellith)- 50 pts
Squad Rukifellith- 15 Warriors w. 2 blasters, 2 splinter cannons, Sybarite w. agoniser- 176
Squad Jarazhi- 14 Warriors w. 2 blasters, 2 splinter cannons, Sybarite w. agoniser- 168
Squad Nethry- 10 Warriors w. 2 dark lances- - 100 pts
Squad Dralekh- 10 Warriors w. 2 dark lances- 100 pts
Talos- 100 pts
Total: 744
EXTRACT FROM THE JOURNAL OF RETHYK, HAEMONCULOUS OF THE KABAL OF THE DARKENED SOUL:
Today, Qelyr and I were assigned by Master Vakkan to take a Talos and a few Warriors with us through the webway and reinforce our patrols on Orkland. Master Vakkan stressed the importance of the hidden technology on the planet’s surface -- according to Drachon-Mistress Zhael, Lord Scyrex himself was particularly insistent that we find it before the mon-keigh. Zhael instructed me to take command of the patrol force and destroy any enemies that stood in our way. I, for one, am loathe to leave the dungeons at this hour -- I was right in the middle of honouring one subject with my talents before I was called upon. However, Vakkan was looking at me with that glint in his eye, and I dared not to refuse.
Qelyr and I led the Talos and the reinforcement Warriors through the webway at the earliest opportunity. We emerged in a cavern that the patrol force had taken shelter in from desert storms, and found that the force was severely depleted from its constant battles. Rukifellith himself was badly wounded -- apparently he wound up on the wrong end of a mon-keigh sword. Knowing that we would need the Sybarites as our subordinates, I healed Rukifellith’s wounds. As soon as the dust storm subsided, I commanded the patrol to move out. Rukifellith, of course, didn’t protest this usurpation of his command (which is a pity, though -- I was hoping at least someone would protest so that I could have an excuse to work on them . . . )
GAME 1- TAU
Shas’el- missile pod, twin-linked plasma rifle, 2 gun drones
-1 Bodyguard- twin-linked plasma rifle, missile pod
2 Crisis Suits- twin-linked plasma rifles, missile pods
3 Stealth Suits
5 Stealth Suits
7 Fire Warriors
10 Kroot Carnivores- Shaper
While patrolling through the ash wastes, we encountered a force of the young mon-keigh race known as the Tau. Seeing an opportunity to teach this upstart race a vaulable lesson, we quickly deployed for battle. Squads Rukifellith and Jarazhi deployed with the Talos behind a large rock formation, while Squads Nethyr and Dralekh deployed more to the centre to bring their dark lances to bear on the enemy forces.
The Tau, however, reacted quickly to our presence. A group of armoured figures suddenly appeared from out of nowhere near Squad Nethyr (clearly they had cloaking devices of some sort) and scythed them down with a hail of shots. The enemy Fire Warriors in the centre, meanwhile, opened up on Squad Dralekh with their rifles (which had a longer range than we anticipated) cut down a large number of them, and forced them to fall back off the battlefield. The battle had barely begun, and we had already lost two squads!
The Tau’s fusilade didn’t end there, however: their battle suits and gangly savage auxiliaries opened fire on the advancing Talos with plasma, missile and slug fire, and severely damaged it. Thankfully, the pain of the Talos’ host kept it alive, and it continued to advance relentlessly on their position. I quickly decided that we needed to take the initiative: Squad Rukifellith and Qelyr advanced down the narrow space between the rocks towards the savages (which, I think, call themselves the Kroot) while I led Jarazhi and her squad down the centre towards the enemy warriors.
The Talos opened fire on the Kroot and killed a number of them, while Qelyr and Rukifellith’s warriors quickly charged them. Four of the savages fell to the rifle-blades of our warriors, and slew only one in return. The aliens panicked and ran, barely escaping Squad Rukifellith (though, since they had only a fraction of their original number left, their leader couldn’t get them to regroup, and they fled the battlefield). The Talos, meanwhile, despite its heavy damage, braved a hail of shots to charge a group of Stealth suits that had gotten too close. The poor fools didn’t stand a chance, and were quickly ripped to shreds.
After beating the Kroot, however, Squad Rukifellith was left open to heavy firepower from the Fire Warriors, second Stealth suit squad, and both groups of battle suits. More than half of their number fell to enemy firepower, and they panicked and fell back, with Rukifellith and Qelyr unable to rally them. Seeing that the situation had grown desperate, I led Squad Jarazhi in a charge against a pair of battle suits that had strayed too close, as well as the Squad of Fire Warriors. The Talos, soaked with the blood of the stealth team, rampaged onward into the Fire Warriors as well. In the ensuing melee, several Fire Warriors fell, and one of the battle suits was actually brought down by Jarazhi’s agoniser and countless rifle-blades. However, the fools held firm.
Eventually, the Tau forces broke off the engagement and fell back. We could no pursue them, however, due to our heavy losses. They will not be so lucky next time, however . . .
RESULT: DRAW
Lesson learned: Always remember that pulse rifles have a 30’ range.
GAME 2- ELDAR (LAUTHELAS CRAFTWORLD)
Farseer- shuriken pistol, ccw, Guide, ghost helm (joins 1st Guardian squad)
7 Guardians-Warlock w. witchblade, Enhance, shuriken pistol
5 Guardians- star cannons
7 Howling Banshees- Exarch w. Executioner & War Shout
Vyper- shuriken cannon, bright lance
3 Dark Reapers
1 Wraithlord- star cannon, 2 flamers
After the morning’s engagement, Qelyr and I incarcerated a few warriors from Squads Rukifellith and Dralekh and repaid their cowardice with torture. This, of course, was to ensure no further cowardice from the other warriors. With this done, we headed off for a new objective -- a Craftworld base-camp that out scouts had detected earlier. The survivors of the original landing parties remembered their earlier defeats at the hands of the Craftworld fools, and were eager to visit pain and suffering upon them. Apparently, this force was from Craftworld Lauthelas, who, I hear, bear some sort of relation to Craftworld Biel-Tan. Given that it was the Biel-Tan Swordwind that defeated our force previously, our warriors were itching for revenge . . .
The Craftworlders, of course, seemed to be aware of our intentions, and a force of theirs intercepted us on the outskirts of their base, ready to give battle. They moved quickly, advancing forwards with their Aspect Warriors, Vyper, Wraithlord and Guardians. Starcannon and bright lance fire inflicted heavy damage on the Talos, but it lived still. Likewise, the Dark Reapers blasted apart a few members of Squad Jarazhi. Of course, under my watchful eye, they held their ground (indeed, I’ve been told that my gaze has a particularly unsettling effect on people. I really ought to look in a mirror one of these days . . .)
We were quick to respond to the Craftworld movements: Squad Dralekh behind us blasted two of the Howling Banshees to oblivion with their lances, while Squad Jarazhi and I moved up to unleash a withering hail of fire on them. Three of their number fell to massed splinter and blaster fire, while two more (including their Exarch) died writhing and screaming from the acid of my destructor (their screams were pleasant to hear). Qelyr, meanwhile, led squad Rukifellith forward and doused the nearby Guardians with her own destructor, killing two Guardians, liquefying their Warlock, and wounding their Farseer. The rest of the squad poured massed fire into them, but their position in cover atop the hill meant that two of them survived. Still, that was a satisfying amount of dead Guardians . . .
In response, the remaining Guardians, Farseer and Wraithlord (which had thus far been impervious to Squad Nethyr’s dark lances) moved in on Squad Rukifellith. Countless warriors died to the Wraithlord’s flamers, and a few more were sliced apart by accurate shuriken fire from the remaining Guardians. The Vyper, meanwhile, critically damaged the Talos with a bright lance shot, rendering it inoperable for the remainder of the battle. Despite their losses, Qelyr and Rukifellth managed to get their remaining Warriors to hold as the Wraithlord and Guardians charged in . . .
In the ensuing melee, the Wraithlord crushed two Warriors, but, in return, was wounded by Rukifellith’s agonizer. The Guardians and Farseer failed to kill a single Warrior, and were stabbed down in return, while Qelyr personally ripped the Farseer’s throat out with her scissor hand. Emboldened by their success, the squad swarmed around the Wraithlord, and Rukifellith brought it down with repeated strikes from his agonizer.
The Dark Reapers, however, opened fire on Squad Dralekh, killed quite a number of them, and forced them to flee (I will deal with them personally later). The remaining Howling Banshees, eager to avenge their dead sisters, launched a charge against our Warriors, killing three of them before Jarazhi killed one with her agonizer and I slew the other. Victorious, our remaining Warriors charged headlong towards the Eldar lines, suffering heavy fire as we did so. Leading with only myself, Jarazhi and one Warrior remaining from the original squad, we launched an assault on the Guardian squad atop a hill and slew two of them. The remaining Guardians broke and fled before our vicious assault, leaving their star cannon behind, but which spared none, cutting them down as they ran. Exultant in victory, we swept onwards into the surprised Dark Reapers. The Aspect Warriors put up a tougher fight, but eventually all three of them were felled, their bodies left for the carrion.
The Vyper’s pilot, meanwhile, decided to make a nuisance of himself, skimming about and firing on our warriors. Eventually, Squad Nethyr and the remnants of Squad Rukifellith concentrated their fire and blasted the fool out of the sky. With all of the Craftworld fools now quite dead, we swept on towards their base, eager to slaughter them all, or else capture them as slaves. When we got there, however, we found that they had hurriedly packed whatever they could and left, escaping their destruction. By stalling our forces, that lone Vyper pilot had sacrificed his life to buy time for his kin, thus denying us total victory. Still, we at least managed to massacre a good number of forces -- it makes me smile when I think of how the people of Lauthelas will weep bitterly for the loss of so many of their kin. We shall send the spirit stones of the Eldar back to Commoraugh -- their souls will make a perfect gift to Lord Scyrex.
RESULT: DRAW
Despite the fact that I massacred my opponent, I ultimately failed to get any units in my opponents deployment zone (Squad Jarazhi was below half strength, and couldn’t qualify). Still, by slaughtering my opponent’s army, I still think I won a moral victory.
Lesson Learned: Always pay attention to the objective
GAME 3- CHAOS SPACE MARINES
Chaos Lord- Daemonic Stature, master-crafted ccw, Dread Axe, spiky bits, Daemonic Aura, Daemonic Speed, Furious Charge
6 Chaos Space Marines- ccws, 2 plasma guns
-Rhino
5 Chaos Space Marines- missile launcher
Dreadnought- 2 Dreadnought ccws
5 Havocs- 4 missile launchers
Still elated by recent slaughter of our Craftworld kin, our force headed out across the wastes to get back to our base. On the way, however, we passed by an abandoned mon-keigh refinery that the Orks, similarly, had abandoned. Our forward scouts told us that there were armoured mon-keigh approaching the area -- possibly the same Space Marines that Rukifellith’s patrol encounted days earlier. With the Talos now fully repaired, and with the morale of our troops greatly improved, I decided to give battle to these fools.
The enemy forces approached, and we discovered that our foes were, in fact, the Space Marines who worship the fell powers of Chaos. They were led by a towering, daemonic beast clad in baroque armour, who held a hissing axe in one hand and a massive ball and chain in the other. With a roar, the daemon signalled for his warriors to attack.
A pair of mon-keigh squads on an opposite hill immediately opened fire. From their position, they could clearly see Squads Jarazhi and Dralekh, and began to pound us with explosive missiles. Squad Dralekh returned fire with their dark lances, but it was an uneven firefight. Down the right flank, meanwhile, advanced their daemonic leader and a treaded personnel carrier (I believe they call it a “Rhino” -- the name fits the vehicle’s trundling, ugly appearance), while a large walker kept behind the refinery, out of sight of our dark lances. Squad Nethyr blasted at the Rhino with their dark lances, but the infernal vehicle just kept coming! Eventually, one dark lance hit penetrated deep into the vehicle’s armour, stopping it and devastating half of its armoured shell. Five scorched Space Marines could be seen emerging from the wreckage.
The daemon, however, surprised us all with its sheer speed: with a roar, it broke into a run and charged halfway across the battlefield into the surprised ranks of Squad Rukifellith. The beast lashed out with its massive ball and chain, smashing several warriors asunder with one swing. Rukifellith desperately stabbed at the beast with his agonizer, but the creature didn’t even seem to notice. Cursing, Qelyr drove her scissor hand deep into the beast’s armoured leg, causing it to roar in pain.
While missiles continued to pound the hapless members of Squad Dralekh, I commanded the nearby Talos to charge the daemon and aid Squad Rukifellith. With a shriek, the Talos lunged at the daemon’s exposed back, eager to tear is apart. Moving too quickly for us to follow, however, the daemon spun around and lashed out with his shrieking axe, hacking the Talos apart in a flurry of blows before it could strike. Turning back to Squad Rukifellith, the beast batted Qelyr aside brutally and slew a few more warriors. Rukifellith again desperately tried to halt it, but his agonizer had no discernable effect against the beast. Rukifellith’s warriors, seeing that their rifle blades merely broke against the daemon’s armour, broke and fled. Roaring enthusiastically, the daemon stomped after them, smashing them aside and crushing them underfoot.
Meanwhile, seeing the enemy squad pinned under the wreckage of their Rhino, I led Squad Jarazhi in a charge against them, knowing that I had to stay here would mean a quick death from enemy missiles -- Squad Dralekh had already been reduced to two men, who uncharacteristically hefted their dark lances and held their ground (I think by now, after I‘ve visited pain upon so many of their number, they‘ve gotten the point). With a mighty warcry, our squad barrelled into the stunned Chaos Space Marines. Two of their number fell to Jarazhi’s whip-like agonizer, but they struck back and slew three of our warriors. To late, we realized that the Chaos Dreadnought was close by: the beast-machine charged in, but it’s massive fists were easily dodged by our warriors. With that, the melee continued.
The daemon, having slaughtered Squad Rukifellith, barrelled into Squad Nethyr, smashing nearly half of their number down with its ball and chain. Desperately, one warrior stabbed his rifle-blade into the beast’s ankle, drawing daemonic blood in the process. This, however, did little to bolster his kin’s courage, and they broke and fled. The beast was faster, however, and cut them all down. Soaked with blood, the daemon roared in triumph and swept on towards the remaining warrior of Squad Dralekh (a mon-keigh missile had recently claimed the life of the other survivor).
Seeing the towering daemon bearing down on him, the warrior shakily raised his dark lance and opened fire. The bolt of dark light struck the beast straight in the chest. To his surprise, the bolt did little more than scorch his armour. The daemon laughed, and the terrified warrior closed his eyes and waited for the end to come . . .
To his surprise, the killing blow did not come. Opening his eyes, the lone warrior saw the daemon charge off towards Squad Jarazhi (and me) instead of him. Relieved to be alive, the Warrior whooped with joy -- and was caught totally by surprise when a missile blasted him apart.
Meanwhile, Squad Jarazhi and I were caught up in deadly hand-to-hand combat with the Chaos forces. Our numbers were thinning quickly, though the Chaos Dreadnought seemed to be missing us most of the time. Eventually, Jarazhi’s agonizer and the rifle-blades of our warriors cut down the remaining Chaos Space Marines. This did little to improve our situation, however, as the daemon came crashing into us, swinging out with his ball and chain and smashing down most of our warriors. With only a handful of warriors left, and surrounded on all sides by Chaos-worshippers, there was no option but to fight to the death.
Ducking under the daemon’s whirling ball and chain, I lunged forward and stabbed my scissor hand with all my might into the daemon’s chest. The blades sank deep past the beast’s armour, and the poison began to do its work. The daemon made a startled gasp of pain, and swayed for a bit. I leapt out of the way as the beast collapsed with mighty crash, quite dead.
My victory was (literally) short-lived, as the Dreadnought’s fist came swinging down on me, reducing my body to a messy pulp. The Dreadnought then proceeded to rip apart Jarazhi and the rest of her squad.
Thankfully, this morning I had made sure to inject Master Vakkan’s regenerative blood-worms into myself, Qelyr, Jarazhi and Rukifellith (there wasn‘t enough for the other warriors, and besides which, they were replaceable anyway). A few hours after our untimely deaths, our bodies regenerated, and we woke up once more. The Chaos forces had since left, and we had the long task of rebuilding the Talos and summoning reinforcements . . . .
RESULT: LOSS
The Chaos Dreadnought performed hilariously in this game -- the Chaos player kept rolling 1’s to wound! Similarly, the agonisers of my Sybarites seemed to be turned off for most of the game. True, my force was massacred, but the funny moments made it worthwhile.
Lesson learned: Watch out for Daemon Princes with Daemonic Speed
GAME 4- DEATH GUARD
The next day, Qelyr and I managed to rebuild the Talos. We gained a few reinforcements from Commorraugh, but not enough to bring our force back up to full strength. Nonetheless, we were humiliated by our loss to the Chaos-worshipping mon-keigh, and we desired vengeance . . . .
Then one of our scouts came back with excellent news: a force of Chaos Space Marines had gone out into the desert to do battle with an Imperial force, thus leaving their base undefended. Quickly, we marshalled our warriors and went out on a raid, eager to take advantage of this opportunity . . .
The Chaos camp was a stinking, filthy place whose odour and state of uncleanliness made me want to retch and vomit (which many of our warriors actually did). Clearly, these Chaos Space Marines were devotees of the filthy being known as Nurgle. We found only a small handful of Marines and wretched slave-things guarding the base.
With howls of exhilaration, we stormed the base-camp, slaughtered its defenders, set fire to the buildings, destroyed its vehicles, and generally laid waste to the place. We hung the bodies of the defenders up on spikes, so that the returning Chaos Marines could see them from afar. With tore down the altars and symbols of Nurgle and defiled them, painting runes of spite across them in blood. When we finally left, the enemy camp was in ruins, and the stench of death lay heavily in the air. We were all quite satisfied with our days’ work: in future, the lackeys of Chaos will know better than to trifle with the Kabal of the Darkened Soul.
RESULT: VICTORY! (My opponent failed to show up, so I won by default)
Lesson Learned: “By default” is the sweetest phrase in the English language
Well, that’s done. What do you guys think I should add to my force to boost it up to 875 points for next week?
