Fresh from their skirmish with the Imperial fleet at Stigmata that Chaos Marauder fleet made entry into the Machina Tertius system. Upon arrival the Fearmongers squadron of Iconoclast escorts was sent out to scout for the Eldar and Space Marine fleets known to be in the system.
It didn't take long for the scouting party of escorts to find the enemy fleets lining up for battle in the outer reaches of the system. Alerting the rest of the fleet the escorts powered down and decided to lay an ambush for any ship unwary enough to come too close to their hiding place within an asteroid field at the edge of the battle.
Deployment/Turn 1-2
The Fearmongers hiding in an asteroid field near teh edge of the battle, but also close to the Imperial asteroid base. The Eldar advanced ostensibly towards the Imperial lines, but suspiciously clustered around the Chaos escort squadron.
Ignoring the Eldar forces bearing down on them the Chaos forces dart out of hiding and destroy an imperial escort craft. Disconcertingly the imperial thunderhawk squadrons all change course to head towards the Chaos ships.
The trap is sprung as the Imperial and Eldar fleets turn on the Chaos. They had been feigning a battle to draw the Chaos fleet out where they could team up on the much smaller enemy and destroy it at will. The Fearmongers manage to shrug off the imperial firepower and Eldar bombers, but 18 thunderhawk squadrons manage to destroy 3 of the Chaos ships. Deciding that they would like to live and fight another day the Iconoclast squadron disengages from the battle.
With the warning sent out by their scouts the Chaos fleet knows it is a trap. The warmaster decides to press on towards the battle anyway, but to do so cautiously.
Turn 5-8
With the knowledge of the devious Eldar/Imperial ploy the Chaos fleet moves in cautiously as contact markers roving around the edge of the board while the imperial fleet drifts out of position, and waiting to take advantage of any mistake by the Eldar.
Seeing an opportunity the Horrific Styx class cruiser enters the battle behind the Eldar forces to lauch a wave of bombers before fleeing from the Imperial fleet bearing down on them. The bombers eventually make contact and cripple the Eldar Eclipse class cruiser.
With the Eclipse crippled and hiding in a dust cloud the Anarchic Vendetta Carnage class cruiser powers her engines to full, and bursts into the battle at ramming speed. Unfortunately tricked by holo-fields the ram misses completely, the shots that follow only do minor damage, and the boarding party that was at a huge advantage manages to somehow not destroy the heavily damaged Eldar ship (literally the only way he could survive the Boarding Action was if I rolled a 1 and he rolled a 6. . . and that's exactly what happened).
The Anarchic Vendetta was then crippled by Eldar firepower, and probably should have fled, but instead decided to attempt to take off the final HP from the damaged Eldar cruiser. Once again the Eldar ship miraculously avoids annihilation, while the other undamaged Eldar ships move in to hulk the Chaos cruiser.
Turn 9+
With part of the Eldar fleet distracted by the Anarchic Vendetta the Eternity of Pain Desolation class battleship decided to make a similar entrance. Ordering engines to All Ahead Full, she burst onto the battlefield managing to just clip the Eldar Aurora light cruiser doing minor damage to both ships. The battleship's ramming path took her straight into an asteroid field. After a close call and a summary execution of the former helmsman the battleship navigated the field safely even at top speed.
The Eldar fleet turned to engage the Chaos battleship, but only a few ships were brave enough to follow her into the asteroid field and their firepower was all absorbed by shields.
Left out of position due to her daring entry into the battle the Eternity of Pain decide to disengage and follow the rest of the Chaos fleet out of system to fight another day.
With the hulking of the Anarchic Vendetta, and the seeming invulnerability of the Eldar ships it was a decisive . . .
[Eldar Victory]
No comments:
Post a Comment