Monday, 2 August 2010

Wolves at the Gate

On Saturday I had the pleasure of taking to the field with my Demiurg army for a massive Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse game. The game was about 40,000 points a side with one side attacking and one side defending.

On the defenders were an allied force of Eldar and Demiurg. Facing them was a combined force of Space Wolves and Chaos Imperial Guard. Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Imperial Guard, who were engaged on the planet turned to face the new threat.

Before Setup


Before Setup
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Before Setup


Blood Angels and Dark Angels deployment


Left Flank Deployment

Scattered Demiurg units defend their position against some of the toughest units in the opposing force.


Right Flank attackers deployment.

Leading the way on the right flank the World Eaters send forth a horde of berserkers led by Kharn The Betrayer. Fighting alongside them was a pack of fearsome Slaughterfiends.

Following the World Eaters into battle came the Space Wolves.


Centre Left

A small raiding force of Eldar appear behind enemy lines to strike at the exposed rear, forcing the attackers to split their force to deal with this new enemy.


Left Flank (the drop pods are in reserve)

Mixed forces of Chaos and Space Wolves prepare their assault on the scattered Demiurg defenders.


Left Flank

The Eldar deploy in support of the Demiurg on the left flank.


Centre

The first wave of the Space Wolves drop pod assault lands in the centre of the defenders' lines.


Right Flank

The Demiurg and Blood Angels support sections overlooking the centre of the battlefield.

Much of the attacking World Eaters have been depleted by concentrated artillery fire from the Demiurg support weapon batteries. Two of the Slaughterfiends have been immobilised, effectively neutralising them.


Right Flank

Following the Ravenwing teleport homers the Deathwing arrive to block the path of the remaining attackers.


Centre-Left

The soul engines, controlled by dead Eldar, advance into the centre to claim an objective.


Left Flank

The enemy on the left flank advance, inflicting heavy losses on the Demiurg defenders.


Far Left Flank

A Demiurg and Kroot scouting force ambush and destroy an Imperial Guard rearguard.


Left Flank

Chaos and Space Wolf predator tanks support the advancing attackers.


Centre

The Death Guard advance up the centre, pushing forward to relieve the battered Space Wolves.


Centre

With the entire Space Wolf drop pod assault now in the fight the defenders are hard pressed to hold back the enemy in their midst.


Left Flank

The attackers on the left flank advance relatively unopposed. The few Demiurg forces in the area valiantly move forward to engage the enemy in close quarters.


Centre

The Death Guard arrive to support the Space Wolves but their way is blocked by Demiurg and Eldar fire support units.


Centre-right

The Ravenwing and Deathwing fight a bitter battle against the World Eaters and Space wolves on the right flank.


Right Flank

The attackers reinforcements arrive to deal with the Demiurg and Blood Angels firebase. Shrike and his wing lead the way with scouts in support.


Far Left Flank

The Kroot and Demiurg scouting force are engaged by their enemy's heavy hitters. Terminators of the World Eaters move to engage the Demiurg while Byorn The Fell Handed and a unit or Sisters of Battle Seraphim squad storm the largest of the Kroot units.


Far Left Flank

The Kroot face off against the Seraphim and Bjorn before being whittled down by concentrated fire. The largest Kroot unit was engaged by both enemies and were reduced from 20 brave warriors down to just 4.

The remaining Kroot were charged by Bjorn.


Left Flank

The combined forces of the Blood Angels and Demiurg engage the advancing Space Wolf bikers while a World Eaters Hell Blade fighter swoops low to strafe the defenders lines.

The Demiurg Thunderers, fresh from felling Canis Wolfborn move their attention to the bikers.


Left Flank

Kroot Stalkers move into position, ready to add their fire in support of their Demiurg paymasters.


Right Flank

The Eldar's Revanant titan, down to its last structure point, jumped away from the Space Wolves in the centre to support the Dark Angels forces.


Centre

The Space Wolves from the drop pod assault spread out to engage the Demiurg and Eldar forces surrounding them.


Left Flank

After dealing with the Demiurg warriors in their path the Chaos forces push towards the objective supported by the Space Wolf bikers. The World Eaters dreadnought protects the rear.


Far Left Flank - Near Corner

The lone unit of Demiurg warrior holding the left corner against invading scouts are reinforced when a Blood Angels and Eldar relief force arrive.


Far Left Flank

Scouts arrive on the flank, surprising the World Eater Terminators and a unit of Demiurg sappers move forward in a suicidal bid to bring down Bjorn.


Centre-Left

The Eldar sweep along the rear of the enemy lines sowing havoc amongst their unsuspecting foes.


Right Flank

The bloody battle on the right flank heats up as the World Eater Lords tear into the Dark Angels with their daemon weapons.


Right Flank

The Leman Russ battle tanks protecting the Shadowsword move to engage Shrike's Wing.


Centre

The remaining Demiurg Warriors in the centre, under the leadership of the Ancestor Lords, stubbornly hold on despite overwhelming odds and terrible losses.


Left Flank

The Eldar Dark Reapers and Demiurg Thunderers pour fire into the advancing bikers, destroying all the bikes and wounding the attack bike.


Far Left Flank

The Demiurg Sapper Engage Bjorn while their Kroot allies move forward to engage enemies further afield.

The Kroot Carnivore Kindred moves along the rear while the poisonous Kroot Headhunters move into the ruin to engage a unit of Chos Obliterators.


Right Flank

Shrike splits off from his unit so that they can engage separate support weapon crews, wiping them both out. This leaves Shrike open to direct direct fire from the Drake's twin-linked rapier laser destroyer.


Far Right Flank

The rearguard on the right flank is attack by outflanking enemies.


Battle overview from the right flank.


Centre

The drop zone for the Space Wolf Drop Pod Assault. On the right the Demiurg robots fight a bitter close combat with their foes.

The Conquer fire support robot stubbornly battles on against three Space Wolf characters, including Ragnar Blackmane. The smaller Castellan siege robot fights in support of Eldar Howling Banshees against the remains of two units.


Centre-left

The Eldar continue to defend their objective while a Demiurg spotter team and Eldar Autarch finish off a Death Guard Terminator unit.


Centre-Left - Rear

The Chaos Terminators and Chaos Space Marines disembark from their transports and move on the objective.


Far Left Flank - Rear

The Blood Angels and Demiurg warriors engage the Chaos Space Marines and World Eater Terminators.


Far Left Flank

The Kroot Headhunters assault the Chaos Obliterators while a large unit of Imperial Guard wipe out the remaining Kroot Carnivore Kindred.

The Sappers engaged with Bjorn manage to fasten a melta-bomb to his armoured body. The powerful explosive detonates, destroying the ancient dreadnought.


Left Flank

Reaching the final stages of the battle, the Eldar Scorpion boosts above the surrounding buildings to gain a better vantage point.

And there ends the game. It ended with a win for the defenders, including me! I gave away 19 kill points, mostly in the last turn. My units took some of the most severe beatings dished out but stubbornly held on, with a couple of warriors left in each unit by the last turn, but were finally defeated.

My characters performed admirably with all 3 surviving the battle. The artillery batteries played their part well, clearing much of the Space Wolves from the drop pod assault. I was surprisingly accurate with my scatter dice.

I really enjoyed the game. All the defending forces coordinated their efforts well, defending each other and catching the enemy in lethal crossfires.

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