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Offline faitherun (Fay-ith-er-run)

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The Draken campaign
« on: February 17, 2019, 04:12:05 PM »
A mate and myself are starting up a campaign, and am going to record it here. My hope is to get my mate on here as well, so he can reply from his point of view...

This is taken in part from the Vigilus campaign, although not following it exactly

Quick disclaimer: the units chosen, and some of the decisions made are sub-optimal for narrative reasons. Each character has motives, personality etc, and that influences some of the things they do, which will be more evident as the campaign progresses


Mission 1: Convoy to Culnora


Jaqueli sighed, watching the ground zip under her. Why her father had seen fit to give command to her cousin was beyond her. Hot headed, all the men were. No patience. She had divined the imperial convoy would be in this sector sometime today. With a little more patience, she could have pinpointed exactly when and where. Marcen did not have the patience for that though. He had ordered her forward with a light escort to find the mon-keigh with her own eyes.

Hugging the tree tops, she scanned the valley below. She knew the imperial forces would have to travel this pass to Culnora city. They would be meeting with, or escorting someone... someone important. Who, or when, she didn't know. Not enough patience. All she knew, was he, or she, needed to die. And this convoy was part of making that happen.

There. Left side, two ugly craft lumbered through the air. Brute forcing their way against gravity. She could almost smell their reeking chemicals from here.

"Marcen. Found them. Looks like two sub-vyper-1's and two APC's. I am holding off 12 clicks 'till you arive."

"Negative, cousin" the last word came across the feed with obvious contempt, "engage now, and slow them pending my arrival"

"But," She protested, "my escorts are not equipped to deal"

"NOW" he cut her off.

With another heavy sigh, Jaqueli signaled the attack.



Mission: Convoy - (defenders, the Salamanders want to get their convoy over to the opposite board. Convoy must be vehicles, with-out the flyer keyword, and can not be more than 1/3 the total power of the army. If half or more of the convoy make it out, the defenders win.)

Army lists, 1,000 pts:

Eldar: Biel-Tan Outrider detachment

HQ - Skyrunner Autuarch (Marcen); banshee mask, Fusion gun, fusion pistol, nova lance, Seer of the shifting vector
HQ - Skyrunner Farseer (Jaqueli); Doom, guide, singing spear

FA - 4 Shinning spears, one upgraded to exarch with star lance
FA - 4 Shinning spears, one upgraded to exarch with star lance
FA - 3 windriders with scatter lasers
FA - 3 windriders with shruiken cannons

H - Fire Prism
H - Fire Prism



Salamanders: Battalion detachment

HQ - Lietenant, combi melta, power sword
HQ - Harath Sheen (FW apothecary)
HQ - Captain on bike, storm shield, power lance, salamander's mantle, Iron resolve

Troops - 5 tacticals, one heavy bolter, sergeant with combi melta and chainsword
Troops - 5 tacticals, one Multi melta, sergeant with combi flamer and chainsword
Troops - 5 tacticals, one heavy bolter, sergeant with bolt pistol and chainsword, melta bombs

Elite - 5 vanguard vets, Chainsword and storm shield, sergeant with relic blade and storm shield (note: the vets got left at home, so terminator's stood in for them)

FA - Bikes x3, one plasma gun, one flamer, sergeant with power fist
FA - Land speeder, Multi melta, flamer (Convoy)
FA - Land speeder, Multi melta, flamer (Convoy)

DT - Rhino, storm bolter (Convoy)
DT - Rhino, storm bolter (Convoy)



The convoy set up first - Eldar would have 1st turn, coming in from reserves.

Table overview

Salmander Set up

Bike Captain and escort, rearing to go



Eldar turn 1:


Jaqueli and her escorts of wind rider come in on the left flank. Casting Guide on the scat bikes required the burning Runes of the Farseer to be successful. Fortune went in for double 6's, and 3 mortals were required to be saved against, with 2 making it past the ghosthelm (yup, I rolled two 1's...)

Shooting saw everything target the nearest Land speeder. Poor rolling saw only 2 wounds manage to sneak through onto the speeder.

Jaqueli and escorts arrive

Peering through the trees...

Salamander turn 1:


Salamanders burned the 1 cp strat for allowing the entire convoy to add an extra d6 to their moment. D6 rolled.... a one. CP re-rolled... another one....

Both Rhino's advance, both get 1's...
They proceed to pop smoke

Far right side landspeeder advances, for another 1 inch....

Three advance rolls in a row.

The convoy makes it's way across the board best it can, while the bikes, captain, injured speeder, and vanguards move towards the eldar bikes.

Shooting see's the 2 of scat bikes removed, while a few more wounds gets added onto Jaqueli. The charge phase removes the last scat bike.

Vets slam into bikes

A fight in the trees

Eldar turn 2:


Jaqueli and her escort fly out of combat to the center of the board, trying to hold off the convoy. Marcen and his two escorts of shinning spears come in the Salamander backfield, hiding behind some hills and trying to bait the Salamanders into moving back to engage them.

Shooting sees another wound on the wounded speeder, with the spears killing off one of the bikes, as well as two of the vets dropping. A single wound also made it to the left side speeder

The spears and Marcen all three fail their charge rolls, a habit they will continue to follow throughout most of the game

Jaqueli and escort taking up mid field

Marcen and escort arriving in the Salamander back-field

Top of turn 2 overview

Spears and Marcen puttering after failing their charge


Salamander turn 2


The two rhinos again pushed forward, advancing a decent 4 extra inches. The rest of the force did not fall for the bait of the spears in their back field, and pushed forward towards the almost dead farseer and her escort.

Shooting sees the farseer and bikes all die to in the shooting phase, negating the bikes being able to use the charge phase to gain a few more inches...

Salamanders converge on the windriders and farseer

Eldar turn 3


Marcen and escorts push up behind the bikes. The two fire prisms move in near the end of the board, where the escort is making their way towards.

The spears kill off one bike, and two vets. Marcen kills the last bike in shooting, negating their ability to charge it. The fire prisms both shoot, one at the speeder and one at the rhino, both on the left side. One wound goes through on the speeder, and two on the rhino. Having shot down the bikes, the spears and Autuarch are all 13 inches away from any other target, not allowing any long charge attempts...

Shinning spears move up behind the bikes

The Fire Prisms arrive

Salamander turn 3

The rhinos and speeds split around a central building, with the lone vanguard sergeant and the bike captain pushing up on the left flank. Salamanders shooting sees no damage on the spears, and a single wound on a Prism. The left speeder charges both prisms. They manage to ger 6 hits total, and not a single wound. The Salamanders are eyeing the end of the board hungrily now...

Half of the convoy pushes left...

The convoy splits around the building

Salamander positioning

Spears getting left behind...

Eldar and Salamander turn 4


The spears split fro the autuarch, with him going after the right side and them after the left. The prisms are forced to disengage and position to block passage. The spears manage to get a wound through on the bike captain, and, between them and a Prism, knock the left rhino down to 3 wounds left. The other prism knocks the left speeder down to 3 wounds as well. The Autuarch gets the right rhino down to 4 wounds. The spears fail their 5 and 6 inch charges respectively. The Autuarch fails a 4 inch charge

The Salamander speeders both boost off the board, declaring this game a victory for them.
We continue to play out, to see the ultimate outcome. The bike captain charges another prism to tie it up, doing no damage, while the vet moves over to use a mission strat to heal the right side rhino. The left one moves up, but can't get off the board.

Spears move up

Prisms re position

Mracen can't make a charge to save his life

End game, Eldar and Salamanders

The prisms finally manage to pop the rhinos, and after the eldar forces start to chew through the imperial infantry. The vanguard vet finally gets dropped, as does most of the infantry squads. All that survives is 4 tacs and the bike captain.

Eldar forces moving in on the Salamander infantry



Place holder for fluff
So, what your saying is it's not your fault you look stupid by using words you don't get?
Flawless logic.

Offline DeathbyPromethium

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Re: The Draken campaign
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2019, 04:25:13 PM »
So this was an awesome game (and still proud of myself for not going after the spears, I can't lie, I thought about it...) Attached is the lore that I've written for the Imperial side (pending how the story goes, it'll include more of the PDF or marines, just depends on who survives the pointy ears...)

Convoy Battle Report: Operation Plunging Hammer

“Situation report,” began Aaron, the engines of his armor group roaring in the background, “landing completed, advancing towards the city, no enemy contacts at this time.”

As he completed his initial vox call back to the Damocles, Aaron felt his blood begin to flow harder, and his heart beat faster.

“CONTACT” screamed the left flank, the sky glowing with an unnatural energy, as a bolt of lighting reached down and struck one of the mysterious contacts, Aaron knew his easy ride into the city had just been intercepted.

“Pilot, get your foot on the gas and evade incoming fire! Gunner, aim for the lightning strike, whoever that is is our main target! Bikers, move to the left of that outcropping, take out the support craft. Ferrox 1, advance as far as you can and deploy your smoke. Ferrox 2 and talon 2, advance right, cover our flank and make sure we don’t get anymore surprises coming this way! Venom 1, get in its face, make it bleed!”

No other words were uttered through the vox, the marines had their orders and moved out, each part of the war machine acting as the tooth it was. A squad of support bikes was cut down instantly, and despite the vanguards rapid strike and revving chainswords, the unidentified hovercraft enemy outmaneuvered and cut down two of the marines.

The lead bike, strapped to the brim with promethium erupted in flames, Aaron closed his eyes for a moment, stunned by what he was witnessing. “AMBUSH! All units, advance towards the city at once, we cannot afford to hold this ground!”

Again, no words were needed by the ground crews, their actions moving like clockwork towards a goal right in front of them. The city was burning. AA fire and the roar of machine gun emplacements filled the air with constant noise, but the gunfire was nothing compared to the scream of the engines of war towards the hell in front of them.

The mysterious figure had moved into a defensive position with her other support squad, trying desperately to stop the incoming assault. “You damn fool,” thought Aaron, “you have lost this fight, and you give me no other choice but to cut you down where you stand.” Ferro 1 and 2 closed on the left and right sides of the enemies position respectively, and bathed the enemy in a hail of boltgun rounds and flame, removing the threat from the field. Aaron suspected that, in the explosion of the craft in front of him, it was possible for some of the enemy to have survived, but now was not the time for this, the enemy at his rear had just destroyed the remaining bikers, leaving the rear flank completely unguarded.

“GO NOW.” cried Aaron into the vox, trying desperately to save the iron hides of those under his command from the enemy behind him, as he rode past one of the crashed hovercraft, he recognized the origin of the tech, Eldarii. “Move faster dammit! The elder are here!” The column pushed forward, and ferrox 1 into the waiting jaws of an elder trap.

Tanks emerged from the shadows and smoke of a ruined building, the gun barrels pointed at the outriders, one barrel each. “EVADE, EVADE, enemies locked right on us!” yelped the pilot of the land speeder, the fear apparent and obvious on the vox. To Aaron’s relief both craft survived, the speeder uninjured, and were continuing forward. “Fire everything! Cripple those tanks! Ferrox 2, continue full speed ahead, continue on without us if you must. I will assist Ferrox 1.”

“Understood captain” replied Javik, his voice alerting Aaron that Javik did not like being told to abandon his brothers, but insubordination was worse.

The column continued forward, the speeders breached the perimeter of the city while the rest of the column made a desperate attempt to escape. As they neared the perimeter of the city, both armored transports were blown apart, the infantry staggering out of their vehicles.

“Move, move, MOVE!” Yelled Aaron to the tactical marines behind him, his lance humming with power as he thrust his blade towards the blackened steel hide of the tank in front of him. The marines obeyed his orders without a word, advancing towards his position after being blown out of their armored transport; the chassis still glowing in fire and belching ash black smoke.

“Captain, this is Javik, we are pinned down over here, we will fall back towards the city but we will not hold. I have forced Kalil forward, I hope to see you on the other side of this-“ The transmission was cut short, as if Javik had been forced down by enemy fire.

“Sir? This is Kalil, I have Javik, he’s hurt….bad, were in cover and the threat has not seen us, but I need more supplies to recover the lieutenant.”

Aaron broke free from combat with the armored vehicle, its body burning, but not destroyed. His marines had made it into the city limits, and his duty to protect them as they moved completed.

“Understood Kalil, hold position and wait for my arrival. Hopefully the scouting party will find us reinforcements. We need all the help we can get."


I hope the above is a fun read, this campaign so far has been really enjoyable, and the next scenario can only get better, right...?

Offline Blazinghand

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Re: The Draken campaign
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2019, 02:24:42 AM »
I like the custom mission setup! The Eldar bikes could use some riders, but I'm guessing those are still in the works. Using two speeders as half the convoy was a good way to win the mission but it does feel like having them run off and leave the rhinos to the mercy of the Xenos is a bit of a moral loss for the Space Marines player, heh.
Quote from: Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

Offline DeathbyPromethium

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Re: The Draken campaign
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2019, 09:15:39 AM »
Using two speeders as half the convoy was a good way to win the mission but it does feel like having them run off and leave the rhinos to the mercy of the Xenos is a bit of a moral loss for the Space Marines player, heh.

In my defense (and tbh, your point didn’t even cross my mind until now, ...oops) if I were being chased by shining spears while I was on a hover jet, I’m not sure I would slow down to help anyone either....

Offline faitherun (Fay-ith-er-run)

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Re: The Draken campaign
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2019, 04:48:16 PM »
Glad you enjoyed it Blazinghand - and yes, the bikes definitely could use riders... and a finished paint job.... Now I am wondering where I put those riders. Have moved my 'workshop'a dozen times in the last year I hardly know where anything is anymore...


Hopefully I can find these and make some good looking armies... but typically those will come from DeathbyPromethium's side of the board...
So, what your saying is it's not your fault you look stupid by using words you don't get?
Flawless logic.

Offline Blazinghand

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Re: The Draken campaign
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2019, 06:09:10 PM »
I actually have a certain fondness for the old jetbike look, but the new riders are definitely less goofy than the old leather-jacket style ones.
Quote from: Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

 


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