Darkness, darkness.

The Dark Eldar of the Kabal of the Obsidian Rose made their battlefield debute in a Kill Team mission against the Dark Angels of The Bob.

A vicious encounter.

We decided to set the battlefield in mostly ruins with very few military assets. Not sure why, it's just the look we agreed to go with.

The ruins of the bloody vale.

As stated in the intro, this would be the first battlefield debute of this Kill Team as led by Vivjhian Throatpunch. These models are Still being worked on but I was eager to get them into some action.

The Obsidian Rose Kill Team.

Vivjhian, the Sybarite and Kill Team leader, rolled A Cunning Ruse as her Leader Trait.  This allows a random amount of her Team to Outflank. An extremely handy trait to have considering the mission we chose was Alone In The Dark which is a scenario that allows additional models to be randomly bestowed with Outflank. It's also a coincidence that 'dark' is in the title considering our armies...

Dark Eldar Specialists and KT Leader.

Next I chose my Specialists: the 2nd Sybarite was given Killer Instinct which allows her to wound on a 2+. The blaster model was given Fearless, and the Splinter Cannon lass was given Reaping Volley which allows her to spread her shots out to different targets.

Dark Angels assembled.

The Dark Angels were assembled to rid the darkness of my xenos filth. The Leader rolled his Leader Trait and got Chasing Promotion which grants an additional Kill Point if he snuffs out my leader in Close Combat. Bob chose 2 of his bikers to be specialists. The one with the chainsword got Feel No Pain. The one with the Bolt Pistol got Furious Charge. The plasma gunner, the same guy that made a mess out of some of my Chaos guys in our previous kill team battle, once again was bequeathed with the ability to Ignore Cover.

Kabalite-warriors take the high ground in their deployment zone.

I placed the majority of my warriors in the high ground in the center in the hopes that their 24" range splinter rifles would provide them some sniper opportunities. I put 3 warriors behinds some ruins on my left flank, and 2 over on my right flank. The rest of my force was in Reserves.

The Dark Angel had a far smaller force, but what they lacked in numbers they made up in superior equipment and Toughness. He placed one lone model on the far right flank and 2 of the Ravenwing on the left flank.

Dark Angels prepare to advance...

This mission has Night Fighting in effect for the whole game, which is awesomely "fluffy" for the Dark Eldar. But more importantly if will provide me cover saves from all shooting which is vital considering the AP of the marine Bolt weapons make a mockery of Dark Eldar armor. And although not as critical, the  Dark Eldar have night vision and ignore it!

TURN ONE

I went first, moving up a few select models toward the objective. My guy on my far right flank advanced close enough to get within range of the lone Dark Angel tactical marine and fired a shot but the needle deflected harmlessly from the powered ceramite.

Dark Angels go, and the Ravenwing move up to engage the ruins on my left flank. in spite of the cover of darkness, the shots hit home and blasted the exposed warrior appart. First Blood goes to the Unforgiven.

First Blood.

That 1st turn made me worry. Although the Dark Eldar could hit the Dark Angels as well as they could hit them, they wounded the Dark Eldar on 3+ and if not for the cover of darkness I would have no saves of any kind. I saw the Ravenwing as the bigger threat and decided that they had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

TURN TWO

All of my Reserves came in on Turn Two. The Blaster and Splinter  Cannon both came in on my right flank. I moved the Splinter Cannon towards the tall building and had him claim the objective there. The blaster atomized the Dark Angel that was over there. On the left flank I had the two Sybarites move into the woods behind the Ravenwing so to better take advantage of the cover saves they would offer me. I lined them up for the kill only to discover that I was wrong about the range of the Blast Pistol:

"6"?! They made a Lance weapon that only shoots 6"?!"
Bob: "Yup."
"They can throw grenades farther than that!"
"Yup!" stated Bob, with a hint of glee.

...so that was a waste. All my other shots were futile.

Also, in the middle of the field, the objective  that I was holding was revealed to be a bomb! Which exploded at the end of the turn and killed the warrior that was holding it.
Bummer!

Thank the Exodites for this bountiful area cover!

Turn 2 for the Dark Angels, Things got a little hairly but thanks to the Dark Eldar's Power Through Pain rule my army was now able to get Feel No Pain saves on a 6+. And my Sybarite with the Blast Pistol only survived this round because of it! one of my other warriors was not so lucky however.

Stand off in the woods.

And neither was my Team Leader, who was charged by the Dark Angel Team Leader. Although she  struck fast and true, her hits bounced harmlessly off of his robes. He then slew her with ease.

Slay the Leader and Chasing Promotion VPs earned.

TURN 3
I moved the  Splinter Cannon lass away from her objective up two levels of the ruin she was in to try to take advantage of her weapon's range.

 This turn saw the death of the Ravenwing bikers, who were sniped off by splinter rifle shots, and the beginning of DAs being forced to take LD tests each turn. My Sybarite with the blast pistol charged the DA Team Leader and her Killer Instinct overcame his defenses, slaying him.

A faceful of vengeance. 

The remaining Warrior continued to trade shots with the Dark Angel Tac Marine, as they had been doing for a few rounds now...

Paddy-cake with splinters and bolts.

While the main fighting seemed to be around this small woods, I had been strategically maneuvering my other warriors in a bid to claim objectives. One such fellow was moving up to claim an objective when the third and final Ravenwing Biker shot onto the board, waited a round and ran him down when he was able to charge!

Death  by Hammer of Wrath!

Back in the woods, the blaster pistol Sybarite had become entangled in an assault for 3 phases with a Dark Angel Tactical Marine before eventually defeating him. The Dark Eldar Warrior in the woods had also slain his foe during this time.

We now found ourselves at the bottom of TURN 5, with the only Dark Angel alive still in reserves. Technically that would be a loss, however we decided to roll to see if the game ended and allow the lone Dark Angel a chance to show up.

The woods have been pacified.

The die decided that the game would continue. The last Dark Angel showed up and went straight for the objective on the right flank. He took a shot at one of my warriors in the ruins and turned him into a burning column of plasma!

Plasma Gunner arrives.

Unable to see his target below, the Shedder Cannon warrior descended a level and fired 4 sbots into the Dark Angel Plasma Gunner. The spray of splinters were too great for his venerable armor to deflect and the nefarious Plasma Gunner fell.

Lined up for the j
Kill shot.

It wasn't until we tallied the results that we realized how close this game really was. If not for the fact the Dark Eldar tabled the Dark Angels. the Dark Angels would have won 4vps (First Blood, Slay the Leader, Chasing Promotion and Break the Enemy) to 3vps (Slay the Leader, Break the Enemy and Line Breaker) on just secondary objectives alone. The Dark Eldar never managed to retake any of the main objectives by the end of the game.

All-in-all, it was a fun game. Very different. The Dark Eldar are very much the glass hammer they are renowned to be and it takes maximizing cover, as well as any opportunities, to make them work. This was a fun trial run with them. This scenario benefited them greatly as did their Power Through Pain rules. if not for the Feel No Pain ability that they get as the game progresses this game would have been woefully different.

Thanks again Bob, I am sure those cunning Dark Angels are plotting their revenge...