Sunday 13 May 2012

Campaign - Ardan V, Mission 2 Battle Report

Wolf Guard Battle Leader Hjorvard Gunnarsson and his last remaining Grey Hunter, Hallkjell quickly located their Wolf Lord, Fjolnir Lightningwolf, deep in conversation with Ornulf Windtamer, the highest ranking Rune Priest the Space Wolves had on Ardan V. Following a very detailed but brief description of events from Hjorvard, Fjolnir and Ornulf decide the Rune Priest will hold a forward position with a substantial force, while the Wolf Lord will prepare a larger force as a last line of defence against the xenos invaders.

Battle Report - 2,000pts  

Ornulf's Primary Defence Force

Ornulf Windtamer - Runic Armour, Master of Runes, Chooser of the Slain, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman. Living Lightning, Tempests Wrath.

Wolf Guard Battle Leader Kollsegg - Runic Armour, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Saga of the Beastslayer, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman.

Wolf Guard Squad - Frost Blade and Combi-Melta, Wolf Claw and Combi-Melta (x2), Powerfist and Combi-Melta, Power Weapon and Combi-Plasma, Razorback.
Dreadnought - Heavy Flamer, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Wolf Tail Talisman.

Grey Hunters - 10 Men, Rhino, Standard, Powerfist, Meltagun x2.
Grey Hunters - 10 Men, Rhino, Standard, Powerweapon, Flamer x2. 
Grey Hunters - 6 Men, Razorback, Standard, Plasma Gun, Plasma Pistol.
Grey Hunters - 6 Men, Razorback, Standard, Plasma Gun, Plasma Pistol.
Blood Claws - 15 Men, Flamer x2.

Long Fangs - 6 Men, Missile Launchers x5.
Long Fangs - 6 Men, Heavy Bolters x5, Razorback.

Additional Reserves - Grey Hunters - 10 Men, Rhino, Plasma Gun, Flamer.

Elarique Dawnrunner's Primary Assault Squad

Autarch Elarique Dawnrunner - Eldar Jetbike, Laser Lance, TL Shuriken Catapults.

Yvaine Skydancer  - Rune Armour, Ghosthelm, Runes of Warding, Spirit Stones, Witchblade. 

Fire Dragons - 10 Men, Wave Serpent
Howling Banshees (10) - 9 Banshees with 1 Exarch, Wave Serpent.

Guardians - 10 Guardians, 1 Warlock, 1 Bright Lance weapons Platform.
Guardians - 10 Guardians, 1 Bright Lance weapons Platform. 
Pathfinders - 5 Men.
Dire Avengers - 9 Avengers, 1 Exarch, Wave Serpent.

Shining Spears - 4 Jetbikes with TL Shuriken Catapults and Laser Lance, 1 Exarch.

Dark Reapers - 4 Reapers, 1 Exarch with Crackshot.

 Ornwulf positioned himself in the middle of the battlefield, with a clear view of all approaches the Eldar could take toward his position. Pushing all his Razorbacks forward, the Rune Priest was hoping he could slow the advance of the xenos warriors until his Long Fangs squads could get clear line of site shots at the enemy. Today there was no retreat, today the only path for the Wolves was to victory.


Elarique Dawnrunner, along with the accompanying squad of Shining Spears moved quickly down the Eldar right flank, trying to locate the psyker who would bring an end to this planet if he was not stopped. Dawnrunners progress was quickly halted though by the presence of two transport tanks, with large heavy bolters swiveling round toward their position. Moving in to cover, the Autarch watched as 6 of the grey armoured warriors rushed forward toward their position in cover. Spotting the charge, Dawnrunner sent the Shining Spears forward to meet this assault head on. 


Unfortunately for Elarique Dawnrunner he had underestimated the tenacity of the approaching enemy, who managed to throw back what seemed like an endless flurry of attacks, landing wounds on Elarique and three of his companions. There was no escaping the fury of the remaining four Wolves, who gunned down the other two Shining Spears as they attempted to escape and gave pursuit of the Eldar Autarch who seemed to be fleeing the battle.


On the opposing flank, Saemund the Ancient Dreadnought marched forward, unleashing volley after volley of blasts from his assault cannon on any enemy targets and locations he could see, while also covering the advance of a 10 man strong pack of Grey Hunters. The Ancient was amazed at the progress this squad was making, a new saga was being written right in front of him and he would be proud to retell the story to the new recruits for years to come.

The Grey Hunters, having had their Rhino transport immobilised, proceeded on foot toward the encampments of the Eldar Pathfinders. Under hail of fire from the Pathfinders and supporting Guardian units, the Grey Hunters were slowly being eroded down, 10 men became 7 which soon became 6. The Hunters were then within striking range of the Pathfinders and ferociously set about ending their part of this battle, and this they did without taking another casualty. Unfortunately, as soon as the last Pathfinder lay dead at the bottom of the crater they were hiding in, a torrent of fire rained down upon the Grey Hunters, which saw another 2 brothers fall.

Moving quickly as their numbers became ever smaller, the Grey Hunters, now numbering only 3 men, assaulted 10 Guardians and their Warlock who were hiding in cover. The hurting Space Wolves lashed out with precision, taking four Guardians down and, ultimately, chopping every last man of their opponents down as they attempted to flee. With their immediate opponents finished, the Wolves hunkered down in cover, and assessed their options, which appeared to lay in facing off against another 10 man Guardian squad.

 As the remaining three came under heavy fire it appeared their time had come as another of their number fell. The Guardians were lining up to attempt to blast the Wolves from their hiding hole, when the survivors sprang from where they were pinned down and launched what they assumed would be their final assault. In the ensuing melee three Guardians fell, but amazingly the Wolves stood strong and once again chopped down their fleeing opponents. Barely aware of their victory the Wolves then found themselves in the sights of a few remaining Dark Reapers who took but a few seconds to aim and pull their triggers, finally finishing this Grey Hunter rampage.

In matters of the rest of the battle, Elarique Dawnrunner was finally cut down by the plasma fire from the Grey Hunters in pursuit of him, the final wound killing the Eldar Autarch and leaving him beyond the help of any known remedy. 

The Wolf Guard Battle Leader and his Wolf Guard assaulted a Wave Serpent having missed with all their melta shots. It was Kollsegg's Thunder Hammer which caused the destruction blows on the Serpent, the explosion spreading for several metres all around the vehicle. As the smoke cleared an horrendous amount of melta fire poured forth, killing every single Wolf Guard present, leaving Kollsegg standing alone against the emerging Fire Dragons.

Taking the charge of the Dragons, Kollsegg stood firm, deflecting blow after blow until he could work an opening for himself to strike back. His Thunder Hammer obliterated three of the Fire Dragons. In the ensuing carnage of wiping out the Fire Dragons to a man, Kollsegg came under fire from some Dire Avengers who had disembarked from a Wave Serpent along with Yvaine Sundancer, Farseer and now the highest ranking Eldar on the battlefield.

As Kollsegg finally fell to a heavy weight of fire, he also watched in horror as Saemund the Ancient collapsed to the floor, a smouldering wreckage that would be able to do no more this battle.

With Kollsegg and Saemund down and the Eldar left flank completely crushed, Ormunds attention was drawn to a single Wave Serpent moving at speed down the Eldar right flank. Ordering his remaining Long Fangs to unleash their missiles to halt the vehicle, his wishes were duly obliged as the vehicle lost its engines and its nose ploughed into the ground. A high pitched wail suddenly began emanating from the vehicle and soon the Howling Banshees poured forth from the stricken vehicle and carved their way through a full squad of Grey Hunters before moving directly toward Ornulfs position.

With the bloody battle taking its toll on both forces, the Rune Priest had little option but to take his eyes from the battlefield and concentrate on this very real, very close proximity threat. Ordering his Blood Claws to unleash all their firepower, Ornulf was amazed to see only two of the Banshees drop in the face of 13 bolt pistol shots and 2 dousings in burning promethium. He was sure he had seen at least 15 potentially killing shots connect with this xenos threat.

 Having little in the way of options, Ornulf and his Blood Claws lept in to action, jumping at the lightning quick Banshees, hoping to cause some form of damage. Eventually the Banshees fell silent as the last of their number was caught on the end of chainsword, but not before a terrible toll of 9 Blood Claws had fallen to the xenos power weapons. Even more worrying was that Ornulf had also fallen during the battle, thankfully the great Rune Priest was not dead but fallen deep into a coma from which his body may never fully recover.

The last remaining battle saw the Grey Hunters who had taken down the Eldar Autarch Elarique Dawnrunner ambushing the Farseer Yvaine Sundancer, killing the Eldar psyker with accurate plasma fire. The only remaining Eldar on the battlefield, 3 Dark Reapers, seeing the battle was well and truly lost, melted into the ruins and vanished. The Space Wolves had won this confrontation, but at tremendous cost to both sides.

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