the mission was a raid in which the attacker had to blow up an objective that was guarded by the defender. this was done by remaining in base to base contact with the objective for two assault phases. all references will be from my perspective standing at the DE board edge looking towards the objective.
the board was 48"x72" and the objective was right in the middle. there was a river between myself and my opponent but it was close to my board edge and wouldn't really be a factor in the fight. the terrain behind the objective also wouldn't be much of a factor since most of the fighting would take place either in front of or very close to the building we chose for me to try to blow up. looking down the board there was a big piece of terrain in the middle in front of the building and some long skinny ones further out to each side. this divided up my paths of approach into right board edge, right of center, left of center, and left board edge.
as all of my troops were in vheicals we were able to forgo the scouts rules.
the attacker got automatic first turn.
he deploys all of his troops opting not to hold any in reserve. he has 2 5 man squads each with a las cannon on top of the objective building one 5 man squad with a plasma cannon on either side of the building, his terminator squad with lightning claws and assault squad with jump packs in front, and the emperors champion and his high marshal on a bike mixed in the middle.
turn one DE
i decide i like the cover on the left side of the board better and leave the right flank empty. I take my first raider and zoom 24" then turn it sideways to plug the hole that is my right of center path. I fully expected this raider to get shot down and really wanted it there to make my right flank a little harder to hit. My reavers went 24" up the left of center path. these won't block my line of sight but will also keep him from assaulting my raiders and ravager behind them. their blasters take out 1 jump pack. two raiders with warriors go 24" up the left board edge and hide behind cover. one raider with troops a raider with a wych squad and my archon with retinue move 12" behind the reavers and fire a few pot shots at an assault squad with jet packs. my ravager with disintegrators takes out 4 members of a 5 man squad on top of the objective building. over all not very impressive.
turn one Templars
he assaults my raider right of center with the terminators and doesn't score a hit. he assaults my wych raider with the jump pack squad with melta bombs and only gets the crew not able to shoot next turn result. everyone else in his army concentrates all of their fire on the reavers. they kill all 5 of my jetbikes but it takes every last unit he has to do it.
turn two DE
the raider that i expected to get blown up right of center moves 12" and is touching the objective. i get the troops out of that raider shoot and assault the plasma cannon squad on the right side of the building. I win this combat but the templars don't have to make moral checks. one of the raiders that went up the left board edge moves 12" and does the same thing to the unit on the left side. this combat is lost and my guys run away but the templars chase them so far that there is no way he will be able to get back to stop me next turn. the raider that was with that one moves 12 gets the troops out does a FoF and assaults the emperors champion. the troops that only moved 12 the turn before move another 12 and then shoot and assault his terminators (they had moved up closer to try to kill the raider the turn before). these guys lose combat horribly and runaway also. the wyches move 12 get out of the raider, FoF 5, and then assault his high marshal killing him. the ravager kills 3 out of 5 models in the other lascannon squad after moving a few inches to get a better shot at them. my HQ moves from the very back of the army to the very front going 24" up the left flank and resting on top of some terrain there.
Turn two Templars
his high marshal failed his bionics check. his jet pack squad with the melta bombs was litterally 2 inches away from my ravager and he decided the HQ that was about to win me the game was a bigger threat so he turned and flew as fast as he could back the way he came. the terminators charged my wyches and all but wiped them out. my warriors in the squad with the emporors champ make their moral check and hold onto him for another turn. my warriors on the right side win combat again keeping that unit tied up. he downs one raider with a plasma cannon shot(all he could see). and the rest of the fireing (what little he had) fell short of its mark.
turn three DE
i aim all my blasters, disintegrators, and free dark lances at the lascannons on top of the building. my troops in assaults manage to live another turn. i aim all 3 of my horrorfex at the jump pack squad. the plasma cannon squad wasn't a concern as it was too far away to get back. my HQ moves 12 right behind the building and gets out to deploy the charges.
turn three Templars
there was nothing he could do to keep me from winning short of killing 5 incubi and an archon with a plasmacannon and a storm bolter. he finished off a good number of the rest of my troops that were in assaults (those terminators with lighting claws are NASTY!) but nothin he had left could reach my HQ in time to stop the bomb.
the DE emerge bloodied but victorious as they load back up onto the remaining raiders and ride off into the webway to fight again another day.
i think that had to have been one of the longest short games i ever played... it took us over 3 hours to go 2.5 turns. we had fun though and my friend playing the templars found a new respect for disintegrators the hard way :-)
