The objective was three-fold - a captured Imperial bunker with dark lance turret, the area power generator, and the dam control center (which would flood the entire area). [note: this is a modified Sabotage played on a 12x4, with the attackers approaching from the long table edge - the battle lasts for 6 turns or when all objectives have been blown, whichever is faster - also, all objectives must be taken by demo charges as in the Sabotage scenario rules).

The Imperial forces achieved complete surprise - they even surprised themselves! The infantry-heavy 6th Schutzen approached the sparsely wooded left flank towards its power-generator objective, the Black Templar company approached on the center, which was open-ground dominated by the dark lance bunker. The big mistake was that the Sovetskii Armored Company approached the right flank, headed for the dam controls. The problem was that the right flank was all city terrain, and the Sovetskii AC had no infantry!

On the left flank, the 6th Schutzen rushed onto the battlefield at full speed - 1st platoon down the center, with the company lascannons behind them, Hauptmann Schaeffer and the Hellhound sped forwards down the center, the Hellhound behind the Chimera, 2nd platoon on the extreme left, supported by the Exterminator which popped smoke, the Basilisk took up position behind the woods between 1st and 2nd platoon, the IG right was taken up the Demolisher. To the right was the BT force, formed up in line formation, with the Whirlwind behind the LRC, Rhinos and Razorback. The AC approached the city in a straightforward manner, hoping to dislodge the dam control defenders by weight of fire.

The Eldar's initial round of fire was ineffectual, as the surprised guardians scrambled to their lance weapons and fired sporadically. In the center, the large DE warrior squad manning the defences in front of the bunker suddenly realized that they did not have any dark lances, and decided to bug out.

The Imperial 2nd turn was fiery. On the left, as the Command Chimera and Hellhound sped forwards and dislodged the Command HQ (which was detailed to take out the power generator), all the infantry except for platoon HQs and lascannon squad, moved up. The entire IG line opened fire, cutting the large guardian squad into half. In the center the BT LRC moved up, bolters chattering. The ramp was lowered briefly, and an emperor's assassin ran out towards the retreating DE warriors. The eversor charged, cutting down about 6 warriors. On the right, 3 tanks opened up, including a Destroyer tank. However, there was not much effect.

Eldar reinforcements arrived. On the left, 2 raiders sped in - one dislodging warriors into a nearby ruin, and both firing at the deadly Exterminator - to no effect. All the other Eldar reinforcements came in from the right, as the Eldar realized that this was where the Imperial forces were weakest. Eldar fire was heavy, buy only one tank from the AC was taken out. On the left, return fire from the Ulthwe Guardians was concentrated on the Command squad which was laying charges on the power generator. The murderous fire cut down all but the Commissar, who happened to be the only one out of LOS. But he was so intent on laying the charges, he barely noticed the hail of shuriken.

Imperial turn: On the left, the heavy firepower of almost the entire Schutzen company obliterated the 2 reinforcing
raiders, and further reduced the Guardians. The BT in the center reinforced the Eversor with a squad of ccw-equipped marines led by the Emperor's champion. The LRC slew right to give a hand to the AC. The charging marines in the center, with the Eversor, cleared out the remaining DE and began to lay charges on the bunker. On the left, the power generator was destroyed, the lone commissar making good his work.

The power generator taken out, the Eldar decided to focus on defending the dam control and ejecting the BT from the bunker. Raiders carrying an Archon, Incubi and wyches sped to either flank of the bunker, dislodging their deadly passengers, a wraithlord and two war walkers came up behind the bunker to offer fire support. In the charge, the wyches realized too late that they did not pack plasma grenades (!) and fought the marines to a standstill. The incubi fared better, killing a bunch of BT marines. Meanwhile the Archon answered the Emperor's Champion challenge and did epic battle on the roof of the bunker.

The fighting was now really in the center. The 6th Schutzen on the left were too slow to support the marines, except with long range fire (it was pretty long, one of my Basilisk guesses was actually about 24" off - my worst ever). On the right, the AC was bogged down and had lost 3 tanks by now, with the Eldar actually advancing against them. The LRC that was sent to help the AC out was drawn back into the center, Terminators disembarking, shooting up one war walker, then charging the wraithlord. At the bunker, the Incubi finally defeated the BT, the Emperor's Champion was captured by the DE Archon (her 2nd in her collection of BT champions ). But being down to 2 Incubi and herself, she decided to consolidate away from the bunker, in order to slip away. A second BT squad charged up to the bunker to lay charges.

In the next turn, another badly straying Basilisk shot almost wiped out the Incubi and Archon. The Wraithlord and war-walkers were wiped and the second BT squad finally blew up the bunker.

We decided to call the game there as there was no chance for the Imperial forces to reach the dam control in time.

It was actually a closer battle than how I had described it here. The Imperial won 4 CPs while the Eldar won 1 CP. So the campaign is now even (5:5). The power generator was the easiest objective. In retrospect, I should have deployed my infantry to take 2 objectives with the AC, while the BT go it alone on the dam control.

Anyways, it was lots of fun, even though there was no real threat to my IG (only 6 casualties, all part of the HQ party). The BT losses were quite heavy. But in all, everyone played very cautiously.

Next week: the final battle, as the Imperial forces fight their way back to their lines in a breakthrough scenario. That should be interesting. I think the BT LRC actually rolled fast tank for battle honors. Let's see if they hang around to support us foot-sloggers, or if they actually use their fast tank to reach the objective.