Adraxys Molech felt the familiar sensation of excitement. His raider contained his Incubi bodyguard and his most trusted Kabalite lackeys. A number of Death Guard marines were captured, placed in bleached stasis caskets and sent back to the arenas along with many other unfortunates. Following his previous success Molech had attracted a band of Scourges with the promise of slaughter. Beldam Qud his Haemonculus ally had informed him that to further her own research and their mutual profit, Primaris marines would be useful specimens for experimentation. An Imperial Battle Group of the ludicrously named Indomitus Crusade had been sent to the Pariah Nexus in the Nephilum sub sector. The opportunity to torment the humans seemed to good too pass up. It was discovered that a sizable force of Void Spectres were scouting a planet named Tuberosum for Necron influence. The Astartes were ranging over the planet but a smaller party were currently investigating a small settlement called Gnochi Heights in the barbarous local tongue. They seemed to be very interested in three power sources in the area and as soon as the group divided to scrutinize them, Adraxys force struck. Thus the Battle of Gnochi Heights began.
Greetings battle number 3 for my Drukhari crusade force. Battle one the Ritual and two the Relic were fought against Dylan's Death Guard, but now it was time to give his Void Spectres some Dark Eldar TLC. We played a game called Assault on the Installation from the Beyond the Veil Crusade book. It is set in the Pariah Nexus and has plenty of cool little bells and whistles to enhance your games within a spooky Necron controlled area of the galaxy. The scenario itself has three objectives that have to be controlled to win that give a 5++ save and transhuman physiology to any unit within 3" of it. Following the last game, a unit a Scourges with shredders were added to the force and the Hellion unit gained the Drukhari battle honour lightning strikes (extra melee hit on a 6), Serpentia gained proficient predator (single reroll per turn) and the Incubi received veteran warriors (no need to hang round with the Archon any more).
Agendas;
For this game, I thought I'd try take credit, cull the hordes and assassins. Take credit is fun as the Archon gains exp when other units do well, also for every 5 exp I gain a raid spoils and the first two games got me none and there are some pretty good upgrades to be had. Cull the Hordes was a poor choice but I hadn't read the agenda properly and assassins wasn't great as there was only one character in Dylan's force.
I didn't take any other than the extra Scourges.
We rolled off for first turn and to my dismay it was the Marines who went first, luckily having a nearly entirely flying army means that I just put everything behind cover so there was little damage done, especially as Dylan raced his marines forward to try to grab the yoghurt pots power sources.
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| The marines surged forward to secure the power sources but this allowed some of the lightning fast Drukhari to engage them first turn. |
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| Viewed from Dylan's table edge the Hellions and Venom attempt to swamp the Primaris. |
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| Similarly the Reavers attack this combat squad like a flash. |
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| Having slain their enemies the Drukhari set their sights on the assault marines. |
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| Some Aggressors enter the fray! |
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| The Reavers are not so successful as to evict the central combat squad who seem a lot more determined. |
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| On the right the Quentifel Karks sees her quarry. |
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| The Scourges arrive on the battlefield. |
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| The Venom intercepts the Aggressors. |
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| Having slain the assault marines and the lieutenant the Hellions seek more prey. Adraxys craft descends from the skies to oversee the carnage. |
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| Both the Scourges and Hellions converge on the beleaguered Void Spectres. |
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| Two brave marines attempts to sell their life dearly as the Archon's raider approaches. |
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| From their vantage point the Eliminators can see the slaughter. They did manage to remove Serpentia from the power source in the distance. |
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| The Primaris are resigned to selling their lives dearly as victory is no longer an option. |
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| The final moments of the battle. |
Conclusion
The final score was Drukhari 40, Primaris Marines 20. As the marines were wiped out to a man (?) I think the battle went well. The scenario was dependent on holding the three objectives and the added survivability gained by hanging out by the power sources made getting them vital, fortunately for me Dylan going first really helped me as it made a couple of first turn charges very achievable. Once the left and central objectives were contested it suited my army better to get stuck into combat, especially as Hellions are made to kill marines! Both units of Wyches were shot out as was the Venom on the right and the accompanying Succubus, these casualties were acceptable due to the focused fire that left a lot of the other units unmolested. On the downside Serpentia H'Tamm received another battle scar - a second lost leg! Amazingly she has no legs but has the same movement speed as an average human. For winning the scenario I got to use the supply limit requisition twice for nowt so my crusade force was now 65 PL.
Territorial Dominance
This was the first game I rolled a 4+ on the raid spoils. Also as previously mentioned Serpentia was legless so A constant source of disappointment Requisition point was used gaining me another and due to the take credit agenda another raid spoils point was gained. So I traded this in for a territory and I grabbed The Shadowloom; a raidcraft workshop.
Back in his lair in the Commoragh, Adraxys allowed himself a smirk of self congratulations. The raid had gone extremely well. A small fortune had been made in Primaris slaves and many other worthless wretches were captured and loaded into slave barges before Void Spectre reinforcements could be mobilised. Several hefty bribes were made and his agents moved on Archon Dubirs' holdings in the Shadowloom, effectively taking it over. In return for poisoning Dubris' guards, Beldam Qud asked for the now severely weakened Serpentia H'Tamm. It was known that Quentifel Karks her rival in the Cult of the Red Grief coveted her weapon - the Tryptych Whip so a secret message with a retinal duplicate to gain access to her quarters encouraged her to challenge Serpentia while she was barely able to protect herself. Karks now had possession of the artifact and was indebted to Adraxys. Qud had H'Tamm, and Adraxys was eager to gain more power. He also knew where there was a large supply of Primaris marines for harvesting. He began planning his next conquest...
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