Diabolical Debacle
Overlord Pethepaeris led a force against the Dark Eldar in the Quinilius Vortex. He was aboard the Night Scythe NNV Infinite Patience with a pair of Crypteks and ten deathmarks. Also with him the Night Scythe NNV Forward Progress, this providing the conduit for Overlord Makenasta with a similar entourage. However gravitational distortions in the Sydurian Abyss caused a radical diversion to the planned approach to the Vortex.
The same problems had earlier delayed his vanguard force which had encountered gravitic storms diverting around the same anomaly. The transport carrying two heavy destroyers, five destroyers and a Triarch Stalker was destroyed leaving a vanguard of just four tomb blades, four heavy destroyers, four destroyers and three wraiths with whip coils. This meant his opening force had a strength of just 615 instead of the planned 1100.
With reserves of 890 his total strength was 1505 instead of 2000. Fortunately the Dark Eldar force was around 1500 strong too. With six possible objectives the Necron force deployed with a destroyer/ heavy destroyer combo protecting the eastern and western flanks where two objectives lay within ruined buildings.
Two more pairs lay behind high ground in the centre, flanking them two pairs of tomb blades. The wraiths were in the ruins on the left close to the landing pad that dominated the western edge of the field. A bastion lay west of centre and two final objectives were on the flanks of the enemy deployment zone.
The Dark Eldar moved swiftly, advancing their Dais of Destiny against our centre left and a pair of raiders, one skirting the east of the high ground, the other aiming for the landing pad where it crashed ignominiously wrenching off critical components of its drive system as it attempted to clear the parapet.
Seizing a target objective on the left with a squad of jetbikes, the foe also held the one on the right with a unit of Scourge. With the Dais in the centre taking the bastion the enemy quickly secured three victory points. Their three transports with three sets of crew and the scourge firing on our destroyer and tomb blade pairs knocked out four pairs including the right hand and central destroyers plus the left hand tomb blades. Four out of nine units including first blood. Ouch!
Our tomb blades got off a couple of snap shots as they held the right hand objective but missed. The destroyers occupying the ruin containing the western objective hit the Dais but its flicker field prevented a certain penetrating hit. Our three wraiths assaulted the immobilised raider on the skypad and wrecked it easily, forcing its incubi to abandon. Four One to the enemy after the initial phase then and our forces thinly spread and few and far between.
To make matters worse the enemy now deep struck in the centre with a unit of hellions. One fell as the unit landed in high ground; it seemed misfortune was doing as much damage as our attacks. The jet bikes killed off our last destroyers now and two wraiths fell to fire from the enemy raider and crews on the left, whilst the Dais, Hellions and scourge wiped out the tomb blades. Just one wraith left and the incubi assaulted, but it put up a fight and actually won the combat despite being wounded.
Now though the critical moment: The Night Scythes needed to arrive from reserve to reinforce our lone survivor. They failed to do so and after killing a third incubus our heroic wraith fell. Game over! With the bikes having linebreaker, five one to the enemy. Pethepaeris broke off the planned assault with the entire battlefield in enemy hands.
Enemy losses were minimal, probably barely exceeding ten percent including just one unit of the ten deployed. A horrendous massacre, 40%+ of our forces, all those deployed destroyed in a devastatingly short sharp engagement.
6.9.14
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