DARK STORM OVER BRAY- 40K Campaign

Yet another campaign! This is with my new gaming group at school- Chris, Micheal and Sam. Maybe you'll get to hear some of their thoughts on the campaign rather that just my waffle this time around!

The Story

Well, it's simple. The imperial outpost of Bray is uncomfortably close to the Eye of Terror, with the result that the Dark Angels often need to intervene to prevent it falling to the Dread powers of Chaos. This time, however, they were almost too late. As a highly experienced and powerful Chaos Spacemarine force descended on the, so Genestealer cults took the opportunity to reveal themselves. The slaughter of the weak humans acted as a psychic beacon for the hive fleet and within hours mycetic spores were crashing against the surface and spewing their lethal contents. As the Dark Angels speedily mobilised their forces, so too did a yet more sinister foe- the elusive and deadly Dark Eldar. Vast regions of the wastes quickly became the reign of Chaos or tyranid spawning grounds, whilst the ruins of cities became fortified imperial outposts or shelter to the twisted fallen eldar. All the forces realised that their greatest chance of driving off their opponents would come in these early days- whoever could secure the capital before the others built up decent forces would avoid a war of attrition and win Bray for their own.

The forces

There are four players in our gaming group including myself. There are four different armies too, but two of them are mine, whilst Chris and Mike both collect Dark Angels and so will most probably rally together.

CHAOS

This 2500point Chaos army is virtually all Black Legion, with most of them being hardened veterans. Their infiltrating means that the close-combat squads can get to grips more rapidly whislt the heavy weapons and bolters gain better firing positions. A troika of dreadnoughts provides heavy support and Daemons make a mess of things up close!
Campaign Progress
MissionAlliesFoeResult
Night FightTyranidsDark AngelsDraw
Breakout (Attackers)NoneDark Angels and TyranidsLoss
Meat Grinder (Defenders)NoneDark Angels and TyranidsWin

The DARK ELDAR

This is the smallest of the campaign forces at the moment, numbering less than a score of warriors. It does however feature a number of nasty surprises- star players are currently the Raider with a Disintegrator and the Grotesques. Even so, without allies they're going to get hammered in a big battle!

Chris' DARK ANGELS

These Dark Angels are the newest of the armies, but already outnumber the Dark Eldar (after some seriously good bargains). However, the army is currently quite static, with no fast support and both tactical squads and the devastators being designed for range. The Chaplain, force commander and terminators are still fearful opponents however!
Campaign Progress
MissionAlliesFoeResult
Night FightDark AngelsChaos and TyranidsDraw
Breakout (Defenders)Dark Angels and TyranidsChaosWin
Meat Grinder (Attackers)TyranidsChaosLoss

Mike's DARK ANGELS

A much larger force but still fairly slow, a lack of mobility more than being made up for by massive firepower! Terminators deepstriking and an imperial assassain take the fight to the enemy effectively, and if the Ravenwing start to make an appearance then we're in trouble!
Campaign Progress
MissionAlliesFoeResult
Night FightDark AngelsChaos and TyranidsDraw
Breakout (Defenders)Dark Angels and TyranidsChaosWin

TYRANIDS

Whoever is against these tends to have one over-riding priority- shoot Genestealers! This isn't too easy though, with mass Ripper Swarms providing mobile cover and Warriors, Zoanthropes and Hive Tyrants blowing things up effectively. Biovores also cause trouble and Carnifex's are always going to smash tanks to little pieces. To Sam's credit, he has agreed to not take any 'Stealers on several occasions.
Campaign Progress
MissionAlliesFoeResult
Night FightChaosDark AngelsDraw
Breakout (Defenders)Dark AngelsChaosWin
Meat Grinder (Attackers)Dark AngelsChaosLoss

The story so far

More in-depth battle reports are included in the next section, but here the actual narrative will be dealt with.

Tyranids, Chaos and A Dark Angels strike force clashed under the cover of darkness in the vicinty of an old bunker complex set deep into the hills on the western flank of Avernus Gorge. The poor visibility meant that neither side ultimately gained ground and so were forced to withdraw without claiming the stronghold for themselves. As they tried to flee down Avernus gorge the majority of the Chaos force was trapped between Tyranids from the west and more Dark Angels from the east. Unable to exit to the north or south of the gorge due to the distances involved a desperate attempt was made to punch through to a small encampment on the western side. The Chaos Troops were over-run and their combined enemies united for a final push against the Chaos camp. Massive casualties were sustained but a lone Berzerker Champion bearing a teleport homer managed to survive and call in sufficient reinforcements to cling onto their base. The Chaos army currently has a precarious grip on the region to the west of Avernus gorge with tyranids and Dark Angels swarming over the Eastern and Southern reaches. Map copyright to graeme taylor

Map

I'll be ading to this map as key encounters take place or when major attacks are launched for a specific objective. The bunker and Chaos camp have already been added, and I've decided that Avernus gorge should split the map considerably so as to enable some tense battles in narrow areas. I haven't marked on troop movements as i think that'll complicate things too much! I'm thinking that i'll need to add some valuable objectives into the south-west region as otherwise all the conflict will focus to the north.

The Battles

BATTLE 1: NIGHT FIGHT This encounter was a team game, 4000 points a side (Chaos/Tyranids against Dark Angels). Sectors primaris and quarteris, those which were originally unoccupied, were the most fiercely contested, with both sides keeping a stranglehold on their base sector- though at one point tyranid gargoyles and a Zoanthrope managed to contest the Dark Angels quarter with fire support from a Dreadnought and Hive Tyrant. However, the loss of both Dradnoughts and the Hive Tyrant resulted in this sector ultimately being lost to the Tyranids and Chaos, whilst a biker squad and full-strength biker squad prevented primaris sector from being taken by the Dark Angels, but were unable to drive them off with the final result being the same as at the start- each force held their base sector and was able to contest the other two. Massed firepower from Dark Angels Devastators and Dreadnoughts was often limited due to the darkness, allowing the Tyranids to advance unharmed- much to the frustration of the Dark Angel Commanders! Biovore spores exploded continually and even managed to kill a terminator, but most of the Chaos firepower was ineffective- the Dreadnoughts managed to attack their own side or blunder forward off of the bunker hill in primaris sector in a close combat frenzy rather than blast away at the approaching marines with their powerful armanents! A Callidus Assassain managed to infiltrate the sector held by Chaos and wiped out a veteran squad with missile launchers, but fortunately could not contest the sector on her own. Chaos lacked the firepower to empty the sectors they aimed for, whilst the Dark Angels, without Deepstrike or fast attack units, were unable to contest the chaos sector and so win the game.
RESULT: DRAW (1 Sector a side)

BATTLE 2: BREAKOUT A massive 2500point Chaos Army found itself trapped as Tyranids and Dark Angels closed in from either side. In a desperate bid to escape the Chaos army split up, most of the heavy firepower confronting the tyranid force (which contained no Genestealers and focused instead on firepower!) whilst Berzerkers and Terminators lumbered towards the Dark Angels, screened by a captured Genestealer pack. Psychotic Dreadnoughts managed to wipe out fearsome Tyranid Warriors and swathes of Termagents early on, whilst on the other front a Chaplain was torn to shreds by an Autocannon. The Hive Tyrant's first burst of fire annihilated the close-combat Dreadnought, the resultant blast also frying a biker!. Warp Blasts melted three veterans, leaving just their missile launchers. The Nurgle Sorcerer and 5 Berzerkers were gunned down by massed missile fire before they had a chance to close in. Already, the assault on the dark Angels was looking desperate, whereas the Tyranid line had massive weaknesses. Concentrating on these, the Chaos army wiped out a whole squad of Termagents shielding the larger tyranid organisms, as well as cutting down two gargoyles and wounding a Zoanthrope despite it's mental shield. The Terminators wiped out a whole tactical squad with a combination of firepower and vicious assault. A Callidus burst from it's cover and flamed a squad of veterans before wiping them out in assault- the missile launchers from the other squad suffering a similar fate despite killing all the Gargoyles. No less than three squads of Deathwing closed on the Chaos Lord and his Terminator retinue, hacking them down whilst losing only 4 of their numbers. With just two veterans and two Dreadnoughts left, the chaos escape had folded.
RESULT: Dark Angel and Tyranid WIN (Over 50% of Chaos wiped out!)

BATTLE 3: MEATGRINDER The Tyranids and Dark Angels, realising the weakness of the Chaos forces, decided to launch an all-out attack to crush them utterly before a distress beacon could be dispatched by the Chaos forces. To this end a massive strike force of Dark Angels and any Tyranids with ranged attacks burst into the chaos camp and blasted a Dreadnought and an entire Veteran Squad before the alarm was raised. The return fire saw a Tactical Squad and force Commander take massive casualties, but the Berzerkers were pinned in place by Spore Mines and a hail of missiles FAILED to kill a lone ripper swarm covering the towering hive tyrant. As another Tactical squad arrived deep within the Chaos camp, having sneaked up undetected round the flanks, two squads of Terminators dropped in from the Dark Angels teleport relay. The entire Chaos Bikers unit was destroyed in a firestorm by Devastators and Zoanthropes, with the rest of the Chaos units obscured by the buildings. A tactical squad polished off some veterans with heavy weapons in assault. One of the two remaining Dreadnoughts roasted three terminators, with the other failing to notice the huge target of the Dark Angels Dreadnought, instead opting to stroll towards the terminators! Chaos Terminators, alerted to the plight of the troops in the camp and getting a fix on the Deathwing's teleportation, also deepstriked into position by the Hive Tyrant but failed to hit anything! As the Gargoyles swept in all of the Dark Angels firepower poured into the Dreadnought. As shot after shot missed things looked good for the troops- as long as the Dradnought survived they also had a chance. However, a final lone krak missile exploded into the back of the hulking war engine and destroyed it utterly, slewing the wreck some 30 feet away! The last Dreadnought suffered a similar fate from the Hive Tyrant whilst 2 Veteran Squads were almost totally destroyed but remained resolute. The Terminators charged into the Hive Tyrant, supported by a pack of daemons who appeared with a rending of reality. 3 of the veteran terminators succumbed to the awesome assault power of the hive tyrant, but the Berzerker squad succeded in killing 2 Deathwing whilst only losing two of their squad. A spore mine erupted in the combat, killing three of the Berzerkers and yet another Deathwing. The last unengaged chaos unit was destroyed by firepower and the last of the veterans were killed by the flank attacking tactical squad. The last of the Chaos Terminators died but wounded the Hive Tyrant in the process! Shielded by the buildings from most firepower, all the chaos forces were locked in combat- another Deathwing fell to the Berzerkers as two Daemons were torn apart by the Tyrant. Things looked desperate for the Chaos forces as two more Daemons and three Berzerkers were slain, leaving just the crazed aspiring berzerker champion and two ethereal daemons. Unable to fire for fear of risking their comrades, the Dark Angels could only hope that these final foes were killed. Although the Daemons were killed after slaughtering 3 termagents, the final Berzerker Champion survived, cutting down a Space Marine and denying them victory! Just one Chaos marine had survived long enough to call in support, but that was enough!
RESULT: Chaos VICTORY (1 model survived!!) This was the best battle of the day. It wasn't dominated by Missile Fire for once, and the final close assaults were nail-biting as the final few models were killed- at one point the tyranids wanted the dark Angels to die so that they could fire upon the chaos troops! With such an incredible survival, the Chaos forces should be kicking around for a while yet- and maybe they've learnt a few tricks!