]b]Invasion Crushed[/b]
Overlords Macridi and Vachriman were in joint command at base Dahambrij North on Zalamas 113 when Dark Eldar raiders struck. They picked their moment well as the base’s two sentry pylons were on maintenance cycle and operated at less than 80% power throughout. Overlord Vachriman in fact was absent throughout the attack having become embarrassingly trapped in a maintenance cubicle when the door lock jammed.
Fortunately the two lords and three crypteks were slightly more alert and stood too with their three immortal squads as the Dark Eldar appeared in strength. Macridi led eight Praetorians in the centre and three trios of wraiths with whip coils held three objectives. A Triarch Stalker was forward on the left armed with its formidable heat ray.
With Vachriman absent, the Necron force amounted to 1853 in strength. The enemy opened with a bombardment aiming to reduce that total, aiming for our warlord and particularly the left rear immortals and left hand Sentry pylon.
One shot went wild but the other four were accurate though when the dust cleared only four immortals had fallen, admittedly leaving just two with a lord and cryptek on the left hand squad. The enemy now arrived in force: Reaver jet bikes rear centre; scourge deep striking close to our left; two raiders centrally and to the rear of our right; two ravagers in the centre and a Razorwing flier. Our interceptor fire, underpowered as it was only managed one glancing hit on the rear raider when full power might have destroyed it.
The bikes tore through our left hand wraiths destroying them all and the stalker blew up under the dark lance barrage of the ravager. First blood to the alien horde. Our praetorians suffered losses too and the overlord was injured. Fortunately regeneration was highly successful. Our return fire immobilised the centre raider and a few desultory casualties were inflicted on the scourge and jet bikes.
Our right hand wraiths assaulted a ravager wrecking it, our rear right wraiths wrecked the raider at the rear and the praetorians blew up the raider on the enemy right, unfortunately the blast further injuring Macridi. Only two warriors aboard survived the blast.
Our left hand pylon was now destroyed and we lost the lord and cryptek with the left hand immortals too. The flyer killed some immortals in our centre squad. Meanwhile our praetorians were down to just three and our rear right wraiths had both suffered wounds. Why both? Because one had already been killed.
The disembarked warriors from the raider rear right were now cut down by the abyssal staff and gauss blaster fire of our right hand immortals and cryptek in a fierce display of the withering power of rapid fire. The wounded wraiths were left with no assault target. Not so the forward wraiths: They assaulted the reavers, winning the combat but failing to break them. The praetorians assaulted and destroyed the central ravager in assault and the overlord, now detached finished off the passengers of the raider with shooting and assault.
A Venom bearing the enemy warlord now appeared and the razorwing continuing to evade our fire wiped out the two remaining immortals on our left. The venom and last remaining scourge attacked our overlord and he fell, but there were few invaders left now. The praetorians gunned down the scourge with their pistols as immortals and pylon failed to shoot down the flier. The wraiths reduced the bikes to one and it fled, only to be crushed in their whip coils as it tried to escape.
The enemy broke off and fled: Though they had achieved first blood and slain our warlord, we were comfortably in possession on three objectives and were in striking distance of taking two more, whilst they could only potentially seize one. The raiders sensibly left the field to us. Our rallied strength was 847, a loss rate approaching 55%. Two of the five wraiths remaining were wounded.
We had lost eight of nineteen immortals, one of two lords and one of three crypteks. Five of the eight praetorians were dead and we had lost four of ten units in all. The enemy had lost their bikes, scourge, two transports, two ravagers and two squads of troops, eight out of eleven units deployed. Estimated losses perhaps 80%.
4.10.14
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