Farseer El-Alaran, of Craftworld Ulthwe, had been waiting for an opportunity to strike, and the Chaos Forces of Slaanesh had just delivered one. After an abortive attempt of Lord Slevixius’ Raiders on the webway portal a few weeks prior, the two sides had exchanged a series of low level skirmishes.
The failure of the Chaos forces to capture the webway portal, and the capture of Lord Slevixius had firmly put the initiative into Eldar hands. Nimble task forces had immediately been sent through the webway, and engaged in a series of delaying actions, blunting the advance of the main Chaos Force, while a group of Bonesingers, seers and artisans performed necessary repairs to the portal itself, ensuring that wards were renewed, and that the nearby defensive forces had been replenished.
Now that the portal was secure, the Eldar could go on the attack. El-Alaran would seek a decisive clash, to rout the main Chaos Force. However, charging headlong into battle was foolhardy. Finding a way to stack the odds in their favour before the battle would prove much more suitable, and El-Alaran had found just the opportunity that sought.
The chaos forces had proved rather tardy, after their first raid against the portal. While the Chaos Lord Kruult had assembled a mighty host in a short period of time, the disparate warbands had proved somewhat fractious, and their path of advance had passed by several human settlements, which had proved rather distracting for the Slaaneshi forces, all to the Eldar’s advantage. Human lives were a currency that El-Alaran was quite comfortable to spend to achieve his goal.
The current distraction for the chaos forces was a large city, Gorgorathi Magna, sprawling across the plains for kiloms. While his troops had run amok, Kruult had used the nearby facilities as distribution nodes, while sending out patrols to find the Eldar forces. El-Alaran’s scouts had identified a number of these as suitable targets that could, if eliminated, deprive the Chaos forces of reserves. El-Alarn had swiftly ordered a series of attacks, and had chosen to lead one himself - a raid on Gorgorothi Magna’s space port. This had been stacked with fuel reserves, and its elimination would also prevent raiding attacks from chaos aircraft. While there would be CHaos Forces nearby that could intercept, El-Alaran was gambling on the fact they were distributed widely across the city, and that he could take them apart in detail.
Objectives: 6 turn game. Either reduce enemy morale to 0, or if both forces above 0 morale at the end of turn 6, hold the Space Port.
Special Rules: Reserves, Army Morale.
Setup: Start with one detachment (lowest cost non war engine/non flyer detachment) on the short table edges (15cm deployment zone).
Deployment:
The rapid moving Jetbikes of Strike Force Kurnos sped into the Gorgorathi Civitas area, deploying into combat formation close to the Gorgorathi Military Institute.
As the closest forces available to Gorgorathi, the Knights of House Devine advanced towards the Space Port, passing through the streets of Civitas Gorgorathi Magna in a march column.
Turn 1
With no nearby Eldar threat, the knights of House Devine maintained their marching formation, rapidly passing through Civitas Gorgorathi Magna, moving into the more open countryside near Gorgorathi Space Port.
Farseer Valmayan, leader of Strike Force Kurnos, saw little point in directly engaging the Chaos forces at this point - the distance to the Chaos Knights was far too great at present, and it would be wiser to await reinforcements and attack in force, rather than throwing her forces in piecemeal. Directing the formation to maintain its distance, the Jetbikes and Vypers weaved in and out of the Gorgorathi Military Complex.
Turn 2
Taking advantage of the lack of visible Chaos forces at present, Strike Force Kurnos broke out of the Military Complex, into the open plains, and sped towards the cover of a nearby patch of woodland, near to the Space Port, but far enough away that it could be used for cover, or a potential ambush.
House Devine continued their advance, but somewhat slower than before, their auspexes detecting potential targets. Rounding the Space Port, they caught a glimpse of Eldar jetbikes speeding across the plains, frustratingly just outside the viable range of their weapons batteries. Signalling to the larger Chaos Force nearby that the enemy had been sighted, reinforcements began to arrive, speeding rapidly along the same road through Gorgorathi Magna. Force Ruination was the first to respond, accelerating hard through the streets in their Rhino and Land Raider armoured transports.
As the Chaos Forces deployed around the Space Port, Strike Force Kurnos reached the cover of the trees, dropping their jet cycles to a slower pace, and hunkering down below the leaves until reinforcements arrived.
Turn 3
More Eldar forces converged upon the Space Port: the guardians and aspect warriors of Strike Force Anaris, led by Farseer El-Alaran. Mounted in grav tanks or taking advantage of the extra mobility afforded by their aspect suits, they advanced rapidly, turning the corner of Gorgorothi Ridge, with a direct view to the Space Port and the prancing daemon engines in front of it. A pair of Deathstalker Fire Prisms glided gently alongside them, searching for targets.
Sensing that the opportunity to strike was upon them, Farseer Valmayan directed the jetbikes and vypers of Strike Force Kurnos forwards, skimming over the trees, and into range of the daemon engines of House Devine.
In response to the Eldar movements, Lord Vokmorkan directed force Ruination around the landing pad, their Rhinos and Land Raiders lurching off the road and across the dead ground. With luck, they would be able to catch the ELdar jetbikes in a trap, and deal with them up close.
Further Chaos forces converged towards the pad - a further three land raiders, carrying a small detachment of noise marines, sped along the streets of Gorgorothi Magna, while a pair of Questor Titans stalked past the Administratum Capital Building.
The knights of House Devine, detecting the incoming signals of rapidly moving eldar skimmers, hunkered down onto overwatch to intercept them, but their adversaries were too quick, weaving out of the trees and unleashing a storm of shuriken and lasers upon the daemon engines. Valmayan summoned a surging storm of warp energy, directing it consume the first knight, tearing its hull apart, and flinging the remains to the ground. The rest of the knights were clearly unprepared for the onslaught of the Eldar fire, and were rapidly consumed in a series of explosions, leaving nothing but burning chunks of machinery to litter the road.
Taking advantage of the Eldar attack on House Devine, Vokmorkan’s chaos marines lept from their Rhinos and Land Raiders, charging into close-ranged combat with the jetbikes. The combat descended into a swirling melee, and while the Chaos forces seemed to have the upper hand initially, Farseer Valmayan grasped the aetheric strands of fate, and issued a counter attack, driving the chaos forces of Force Ruination back.
Losses on both sides were fairly light - a pair of Vypers and a squad of jetbikes had been consumed in flames, whilst a single squad of chaos space marines lay sprawled on the ground. Vokmorkan’s force withdrew to its starting point, between the Space Port and the outskirts of Gorgorothi Magna, easily rallying out of combat range of the victorious Eldar.
Turn 4
Deciding that assaulting jetbikes was a fool’s errand, Vokmorkan directed his detachment to occupy the Landing Pad, and to hold it at all costs - this was the real objective - if he could hold out here, the Eldar forces would smash themselves apart on his bulwark.
Nearby, the Noise Marines of Force Avarice deployed from their land raiders, climbing the stairs of the nearby buildings, and setting up lines of fire on rooftops either side of the road, giving them a commanding view of the Space Port. Their Land Raiders advanced cautiously, attempting to draw line of sight to the grav tanks lurking at the edge of Gorgorothi Ridge.
The Questor Titans Sodom and Gomorrah continued their advance, trudging past the vast bulk of the Administratum Capitol building.
Triumphant after their decisive victories over House Devine and Force Ruination, the jetbikes of Strike Force Kurnos retreated back behind the woodland, acutely aware of the advancing Chaos Titans, and keen to avoid their firepower.
El-Alaran directed his detachment, still in their grav tanks, to advance cautiously towards the Space Port, intent on destroying Chaos Armour supporting the infantry. Behind them, the Scorpion super heavy grav tank, Vaul’s Unmaking, arrived, drifting forward to a position just behind Gorgorothi Ridge.
Realising the danger that the Deathstalker Fire Prisms represented, two Land Raiders from Force Ruination turned to engage them, lascannons flaring. Unfortunately for the Chaos forces, the redeployment onto the landing pad had not yet been completed, and the hasty orders had undoubtedly caused distraction, as the land raiders failed to hit any targets. The response from Strike Force Anaris was much more destructive, as both prism cannons met their marks, smashing apart the two Land Raiders in kaleidoscopic bursts of light.
Taking advantage of the elimination of enemy armour near the landing pad, the Scorpion Grav Tank engaged its engines, and skimmed to the top of Gorgorothi Ridge. In the distance, the plodding Questor Titans continued their advance, reaching the edge of Gorgorothi Magna, and making it into support range of the Chaos Marines in the Space Port, who had finally completed their occupation of the facility.
Morale: Eldar 22, Chaos 15
Turn 5
Having secured the landing pad, Force Ruination hunkered down onto overwatch, determined to hold out against any Eldar attack. The Land Raiders of Force Avarice advanced forwards, maintaining communication with their Noise Marine support, but attempting to manoeuvre to a position where their lascannons could be of more use.
Sodom and Gomorrah, the Questor titans, continued their advance, seeking to line up their weapons batteries with the jetbikes lurking behind the forest.
In the distance, a pair of lithe Revenant Titans advanced up the road from the Gorgorathi Military Institute.
Both Strike Force Kurnos and Anaris responded to the Chaos movements: the bikers of Force Kurnos sailed over the woodland, to take up a position behind the Questor Titans, intent on bringing one of the monstrosities down, while Farseer El-Alaran directed the grav tanks and aspect warrior of Anaris to reposition at the far end of Gorgorothi Ridge, to take advantage of the split between the Chaos dispositions.
However, their manoeuvres had not been as careful or discrete as El-Alaran would have liked. Force Avarice had been waiting for such an opportunity, and as the Grav Tank settled down along the cliff edges, opened up with the lascannons on their Land Raiders. Both Deathstalker Prism Tanks were blasted apart, leaving smouldering wreckage and shards of crystal littering the hillside. Further adding to El-Alaran’s misery, the noise marines occupying the high rise towers at the edge of Gorgorothi Magna struck up a series of clashing chords, the aural onslaught overwhelming squads of Swooping Hawks and Warp Spiders. In retaliation, the Wave Serpents unleashed the energy stored in their prows, staggering the noise marines and knocking them from their feet.
Having landed behind the strutting Questor Titans, the Jetbikes and Vypers of Strike Force Kurnos took full advantage, unleashing a barrage of shuriken and lasers blasts. One of the titans staggered, it’s torso weapons batteries melted out of shape by the intense fire, but did not fall.
Hoping to catch the jetbikes off guard, the Marines of Force Ruination in the Space Port blazed away with their bolters, but most were out of effective range, and the jetbikes emerged unharmed. The remaining Land Raider lurking near the Space Port was more successful, blasting two Vypers out of the sky, and leaving Strike Force Kurnos much diminished.
Upon the crest of Gorgorothi Ridge, the Scorpion Super Heavy Grav Tank Vaul’s Unmaking aligned its turret with the Questor Titans, and unleashed a volley of high energy laser blasts from its pulsar, smashing armour plates from both titans, but proved unable to fell either.
Turning ponderously, the Chaos Titans Sodom and Gomorrah charged towards the Jetbikes, though only the badly damaged Gomorrah was in range. Invigorated by a warp frenzy, the titan crushed a pair of jetbike beneath its hooves, but the tide quickly turned, and Gomorrah was swarmed by the nimble bikers and brought down, crashing into the trees in a pile of smouldering wreckage.
In the distance, the Revenant titans continued to advance along the road, determined to reach the combat area.
Turn 6
Unable to move fast enough to catch any Eldar in close assault, and unwilling to move out into the open, the Chaos Marines of Force Ruination continued their overwatch in case any Eldar came into range.
The Land Raiders of Force Avarice advanced further up the road past the Space Port, determined to draw line of sight to the recently arrived Revenant Titans. Realising the sudden threat the Eldar Titans presented, the remaining Questor Titan Sodom pivoted towards them.
In response, the Noise Marines once again unleashed a sonic barrage, but the distorting symphony had no real effect on the advancing Eldar force. To add further insult, the Eldar Titans remained out of range of Force Avarice’s Land Raiders, frustrating the chaos crews. The remaining Land Raider attached to Force Ruination was slightly closer, but its aim was deflected by the Eldar Titan’s holofields, and neither of its shots caused any damage.
Having brought down one titan, the remaining jetbikes of Strike Force Kurnos had pulled back slightly, rather than risking further casualties, but continued to pour fire into the remaining Questor, causing further buckling to its frame.
The Questor Titan Sodom attempted a barrage from its weapons batteries against the eldar Revenant Titans, but the intensity of fire that it was under from multiple directions had clearly confounded its targeting arrays, and the few shots it got off proved ineffectual. In response, both Revenants opened up upon the beleaguered Questor with their pulse lasers, coring the machine with a series of energy bursts and sending it crashing to the ground in a shower of sparks and flames.`
The Scorpion, deprived of a target of interest, took its frustrations out on a nearby Land Raider in Force Avaris, spinning the tank round and leaving it burning in front of the Space Port.
At the edge of the city, El-Alaran’s Guardians disembarked from their Wave Serpents, and entered the high rise block, engaging the Noise Marines inside in bitter hand-to-hand combat, while the remaining Swooping Hawks descended from above to join in the melee. While a squad of Guardians were cut down in the fighting, both squads of Noise Marines in the building were slain, and the remains of Force Avarice retreated back towards the Space Port in disarray.
Morale: Eldar 14 (-1), Chaos -6 (-10)
Aftermath:
The destruction of the Questors, and previous elimination of House Devine had forced Lord Vokmorkan’s hand - without further armoured assets, there was no way he could expect to hold out further in the face of the Eldar onslaught. Signalling to his marines to board the remaining transports, the Chaos Forces abandoned the Space Port, and performed a tactical withdrawal through the streets of Gorgorathi Magna. Vokmorkan knew that he would have to face Lord Kruult’s wrath for his failure to protect vital assets at the Space Port, but it was, he reasoned, better to preserve active forces for a later clash.
The Eldar did not pursue with any great vigour. Their objective had been to deny the Chaos Forces resources. Setting a number of charges amongst the fuel reserves at the Space Port, they too left the battlefield, detonating the explosives in their wake. While the clash had not been without price, in particular the brave jetbike riders of Force Kurnos, the advantage gained in denying fuel to Kruult’s forces might have a deciding effect in the future.
Eldar Victory - Chaos Forces reduced below 0 morale.
In game terms, we decided that if Chaos had won, they would have received a squadron of Chaos Doom Wings in the next battle. As the Eldar were victorious, the Chaos forces will have to test for low fuel in the next battle (⅙ chance for any vehicle to not be available).
This battle was fought using Epic 40,000 (3rd edition) - and in all honesty directly inspired by Ed at Minisodes cracking the rules out - I played 3rd Ed when it launched back in 1997, but my group of friends quickly got distracted by other systems at the time, and no-one else really collected Epic when we were kids, so it’s been nice to drag it out again. The core of the armies I have date from this era, with the thin strip bases, rather than the square ones for infantry.
We’ve played a reasonable amount of NetEpic (fan version of Space Marine) on and off over the last 10 years, so it’s been interesting to see the differences in the system. I had pretty much completely forgotten the 3rd Edition rules, army building, etc, so we ended up playing 3 games prior to this one to get a handle on the rules - the Gogard’s Last Stand scenario twice (swapping sides), and a trial run of this game, using the same forces, but a slightly different mission. There were a few instances where we forgot to do things (I clearly forgot to resolve a firefight at one point with the Chaos Titan detachment, but it wouldn’t have changed the result of the game), but overall it has been pretty easy to pick back up again.
The next Epic battle will be fought using Epic Space Maine (2nd edition) - and should be a somewhat larger clash!
Objectives: 6 turn game. Either reduce enemy morale to 0, or if both forces above 0 morale at the end of turn 6, hold the Space Port.
Special Rules: Reserves, Army Morale.
Setup: Start with one detachment (lowest cost non war engine/non flyer detachment) on the short table edges (15cm deployment zone).
Armies:
Eldar Forces:
Everlasting Dawn / Harbinger of Dusk:
Eldar Titan Detachment
2 Revenant Titans
370 pts
Morale 8
Vaul’s Unmaking:
Engines of Vaul Detachment
1 Scorpion Super Heavy Grav Tank
110 pts
Morale 3
Strike Force Kurnos:
Eldar Jetbike Warhost
Farseer on Vyper
5 Stands of Jetbikes
5 Vypers
250 pts
Morale 5
Strike Force Anaris:
Eldar Warhost
Farseer in Falcon Grav Tank
Guardians (2 stands) in Wave Serpent
Guardians (2 stands) in Wave Serpent
3 Stands of Aspect Warriors with Jump Packs and Exarchs
2 Fire Prisms
268 pts
Morale 6
Total Points: 998
Total Morale: 22
Chaos Force:
*Technically this force doesn't conform to the army construction rules - I missed the note about the number of armoured (Armour, Knights, Titans) detachments you can take per infantry (Space Marines, Cultists, Daemons) detachment.
Sodom / Gomorrah:
Chaos War Engine Detachment
2 Questor Titans
270 pts
Morale 6
House Devine:
Chaos Engine Detachment
6 Slaanesh Engines
1 HQ upgrade
199 pts
Morale 4
Force Avarice:
Chaos Space Marine Armoured Detachment
4 Land Raiders + 1 HQ Upgrade (I forgot 1 Land Raider so only had 3 in the battle! That’ll teach me to actually look at something I wrote. Clearly the crew were off doing Slaaneshi stuff).
4 Noise Marine Stands
249 pts
Morale 5
Force Ruination:
Chaos Space Marine Detachment
Chaos Lord in Land Raider
Terminator Squad in Land Raider
Terminator Squad in Land Raider
Chaos Marines (2 stands) in Rhino
Chaos Marines (2 stands) in Rhino
Chaos Marines (2 stands) in Rhino
277 pts
Morale 6
Total Points: 995
Total Morale: 21
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