CHAOS SPACE MARINES versus Dark Eldar

Game: Warhammer 40,000 4th edition
Opponent: Gary
Mission: Seek and Destroy
Level: Omega
1st turn: Chaos Space Marines
Points: 2000
Location: Windar, Halasus Marches, Skolarii sector
Background: Constant Dark Eldar raids upon Imperial shipping around Windar come to the attention of the Exigators renegade Space Marine chapter. They bring a large part of the Blue Storm Kabal to battle on the planet's surface and kill both enemy leaders, thus securing the space lanes for a full ten years.


Exigators Chaos Space Marines

• Chaos Lord Ferocitor, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Daemonic Stature, Daemonic Strength, Daemonic Speed, Daemonic Resilience, Daemonic Strength, Daemonic Visage, Daemonic Aura, Dark Blade, Bionics, Close combat weapon, Frag grenades, Personal Icon, Spiky Bits, Furious Charge
• 2 Obliterators
• Squad Surculus, 5 Possessed Marines with Daemonic Talons
• Squad Hotep, 9 Thousand Sons with Bolt guns, Sorceror with Power Weapon and Gift of Chaos
• Squad Infractis, 10 Chaos Marines, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Infiltrate, Bolt pistols and Close combat weapons, 2 Plasma Pistols, Aspiring Champion with Power fist
• Squad Profuge, 5 Chaos Marines, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Infiltrate, Bolt guns, Plasma gun, Lascannon
• Squad Abraxar, 5 Chaos Marines, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Bolt guns, Missile Launcher, Plasma gun, Infiltrate
• Squad Krall, 5 Chaos Marines, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Bolt guns, Autocannon, Infiltrate
• 8 Furies
• 5 Raptors, Furious Charge, Flamer, Aspiring Champion with Power Weapon and Daemonic Strength
• Squad Imber, 6 Havocs, Mark of Chaos Undivided, Infiltrate, Bolt guns, 4 Heavy Bolters
• Torius, Predator with Twin-linked Lascannon and Heavy Bolter sponsons
• Atrocitor, Dreadnought with Twin-linked Lascannon
  

Dark Eldar

• Tooled up Archon with Incubi retinue in Raider
• Drachon carrying Webway portal
• Haemonculus leading 9 Grotesques in Raider
• 5 Jetbikes
• 4 Warpbeasts
• Talos
• Ravager
• 12 Wyches
• 10 Warriors with 2 Dark lances
• 10 Warriors with 2 Dark lances
• 10 Warriors with 2 Splinter cannons with Sybarite carrying Webway portal
• 6 Mandrakes
• 10 Scourges with 4 Splinter cannons

Background
Having played piddly 1000 point army lists in 10 or so games (before and during The Gauntlet tournament) Gary and I were keen to fight a larger engagement. Gary took the opportunity to switch from his Slaanesh Chaos list to the Dark Eldar. In particular he wanted to experiment with webway portals as the 4th edition vehicle rules had made Raiders death traps.

I had to seriously massage my Chaos list to reach 2000 points. I tricked out my Lord to a true Daemon Prince, weighing in at a hefty 208 points. My Dreadnought and Predator got Daemonically possessed, and I managed to finally play my Raptors as well as my Thousand Sons unit. As these additions were mainly to meet the points requirement, and not to improve the killing potential of my army, I figured I was in for a tough game.

Terrain and Deployment
We set up the table with a lot of cover, partially to help Gary's fragile Dark Eldar and partly in response to our last few games on the bare tables of Warhammer World.

I had a dense concentration of jungle on my left flank which we classified area 2 terrain, the central portion of the board had tons of ruined buildings, mostly area 2 but with one large area 3 ruin in the dead centre of the table and the right was comparatively bare, with just a few small jungle pieces.

Gary began the game with the majority of his army off the table due to escalation and the webway portals. He began with the Drachon with a portal joining a Warrior squad on my right, a Warrior squad set up centrally, and the last Warrior squad with the second portal on my left.

I tasked my Thousand Sons to hold my left flank, amongst the dense jungles. My infantry squads formed a loose skirmish line right across the board, with Squad Infractis and the possessed behind the large building in the middle, and the Obliterators on my right centre.

The Game
I won first turn and pushed Squad Infractis forward in the middle, and Squad Hotep trudged through the undergrowth on my left. Some lucky rolls meant I caused a couple of casualties on the Warrior squad with the portal on the left. Gary withdrew the squad but the Thousand Sons had the angle to shoot around the ruins and the squad was further whittled down. Worried about losing the rest of the squad and the portal with them Gary pulled the Warriors back even further, so I had effectively neutralised his attack on my left.

On my right, the Dark Eldar were faring no better. Gary pushed the Warriors and Drachon over the open ground towards my line squads but I unleashed a torrent of fire at them, killing everyone but the Dark Eldar HQ.

On the second turn my reserves began to arrive and my Dreadnought had a clear line of sight to the Drachon. One twin-linked lascannon shot later and I had denied the threat of the webway portals completely.

Gary's own reserves came on in drips and drabs, allowing me to destroy them in turn. The Reavers zoomed up my right but my bolt guns cared little for their invulnerable saves and they were shot from the sky. I had brought the Predator onto this flank too, and I rained cross table shots into the Dark Eldar centre with impunity.

Back on the right, Gary introduced the Ravager in order to attack the Thousand Sons, but the jungles gave me some useful invulnerable saves and I eventually dropped the skimmer. I pulled Squad Hotep back to preserve victory points and secure the flank.

That left a furious fight for the centre as Squad Infractis pushed forward, supported by Squad Surculus. A lucky bolt pistol shot destroyed the Archon's Raider which left them pinned for a crucial turn. From turn 3 onwards a sprawling combat ensued including the Wyches, Haemonculus, Grotesques, Archon, Incubi and Warp beasts versus Squad Infractis, Squad Surculus and Ferocitor. Although the Dark Eldar eventually triumphed I had pretty much obliterated the entire army in the process and it was just a case of mopping up after that.

The final stages had the Scourges and Raptors show up out of reserve, but playing little part in the game. This was a comfortable win for my Exigators.

Result: Win - Victorious slaughter

Imperial Control: Increased 18%

Learning points

• A surprisingly easy win for my Exigators. Winning first turn helped immensely as well as Gary's fumbled deployment of his webway portals. The squads who held them were far too fragile and couldn't advance deeper onto the table meaning Gary's hard-hitting close assault units had to arrive from his own board edge. I played cautiously, only advancing a couple of squads to use as bait, and in the end they did enough damage on their own to completely stall the Dark Eldar attack. My superior long range fire ensured there was no way back for the pointy-eared Kabalites.