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Here's a fairly antiseptic account of the Tuesday night titanic struggle
between my Sisters and Erik Frye's Dark Eldar.

We played at 1,700pts (that's all my Sisters as they're currently
configured), and rolled up a Recon mission.  Erik took four 10-strong squads
on foot with a mix of DL's, SC, Blasters and Shredders.  A small unit of
Warp Puppies and a small unit of Hellions.  Two Ravagers.  One squad of
Wyches on a Raider.  One Raider squad.  One Grotesque squad on Raider. And a
kitted out Archon.  I think that's it.  Oh!!!  And a Talos.  Can't forget
the Talos.  Damn!  And some Mandrakes.

I had my GT army.  Canoness with some wargear.  2 "tactical" Battle Sister
Squads (w/. H Flamer, meltagun, and Veteran Sister Superior with Plasma
Pistols and Power Swords), 1 "Heavy Bolter" Sister squad (Heavy Bolter,
Flamer, VSS with Brazier of Holy Fire, 2 Seraphim units (both had VSS with
plasma pistols and Power Swords), 1 Retributor Squad with 4 Heavy Flamers
and 2 Retributor Squads with 2 H Bolters and 2 Multimeltas each.  All the
squads were in Rhinos, Immolators or flew.  The last two Retributor squads
were 5-strong and rode in Immolators, all the rest were big "10's".
The Canoness rode with the H. Flamer Retributors.

Anyway, we played on a 4x8 table, which I thought would kind of suck, as I
couldn't really cover the whole width with my forces, so I was going to have
problems keeping him out of my backfield.

I hid just about my entire force behind hills and woods, with only the
Retributors and the HB-armed Tactical squad dismounted and in LoS. The two
Retributors (with the HB's and MM's) were in woods, hoping to make some
cover saves.

On my left flank, I had the HB-armed tacticals backed up with one of the
Heavy Flamer Tacticals still mounted up.  Next to them (towards the center)
were one of the Retributor squads, as I said, sheltering in the woods.

In the middle, I had an Immolator, the Command Rhino w/. 4 HF, and one unit
of Seraphim hiding behind a hill.

On the right, I had the other Retributors, the other Seraphim, and the last
Tactical Squad.

Facing them (starting on the left) were...

On Erik's right flank two Warrior Squads, the Wyches, and a Ravager.

In the center where one warrior squad (w/. 2 DL and 2 Blasters), the Talos,
a Ravager, the Raider Squad, and the Grotesques (lead by a Haemonculus).

On his left were the last warrior squad, the Warp Puppies, and the Helions.

One Mandrake "blip" was placed with each group.

I let him take the first turn and away we went.

He pushed up just about his entire army to get into HtH as quick as
possible.  His Archon jumped out of the Raider he was hitching a ride on and
FoF'ed closer in the hopes of charging my Seraphim in the middle of the
board.

His first turn shooting was fairly ineffective since most of my army was
hiding behind cover.  The (all sides will be from my perspective) left flank
Ravager shot and wiped out the Retributors there.  And the other Ravager
stunned my right flank Immolator.  The Wyches' Raider shot up the (now
empty) Rhino that used to house the HB Sisters.  Finally, the Warriors on
the extreme left flank killed two Sisters from the Heavy Bolter squad with
Dark Lance fire.

In the assault phase, his Archon came up *just* short of my Seraphim and
stood around in his Shadow Field looking pissed.

My turn one.

On my left, I held the HB squad in place to try and shoot down the Wych
Raider before it became more of a pain.  I moved up the other Squad's Rhino
and popped smoke.

In the middle the Seraphim, realizing that it's either charge or be charged,
hopped over the hill and looked to bring all guns to bear on the Archon
before charging in.  The Talos loomed dangerously close, but at that point I
decided that the Seraphim were now there to kill the Archon and tie up the
Talos for as long as possible.  The Command Rhino lurched forward over the
hill and the Canoness and her Retributors poured out to get some heavy
flamer shots at the Warrior and Grotesque Raiders that were in the valley
just beyond the hill.  On the right, the Seraphim jumped over the woods they
were sheltering behind and drew sights on the Warriors who had been
advancing through the next copse of woods.

What followed was perhaps the single best shooting phase my Sisters have put
together.  We'll start with the ineffective stuff.

On the left, the Heavy Bolter manage to shoot the Dark Lance off of the
Wyche's Raider, but nothing more, while the rest of the squad's bolter fire
bounced off the of skimmer's hull.  On the right, the Seraphim opened up on
the Warriors facing them and killed a handful.  Not enough to break then,
but it was a good start.

But in the middle...  Oh, the glorious middle...  The right flank
Retributors opened up with their two multimeltas (the Heavy Bolters were
screened by too much woods) on the Ravager in the middle of the table.  Only
one hit, but it was enough.  The Melta shot penetrated the Skimmer's armor
and blew the thing to scrap.  Or would have if it hadn't moved too fast.
But the "6" I rolled was still enough to skrag the thing!  The Seraphim in
the middle opened up on the Archon, got a handful of hits, and caused 4
wounds.  He rolls to save…  "1"!  First roll!  The field falls and
the rest of the AP5 shots sink home in his pale flesh.  Scratch one Archon!
Then, the Retributors with the Canoness open up.  I can get all four Heavy
Flamers on the Grotesques' Raider, but better still, two of them can also get
the Warrior's Raider under their fire as well.  With open-topped skimmers
you can guess the rest…  Both craft crash killing two Grotesques and 5(!)
Warriors.

And there was much rejoicing!  In one fell swoop, his entire center was
dismounted and damaged.

Sadly, the death of the Archon left the Seraphim with nothing to charge, so
they kind stood there thinking "Crap! There's a really pissed off Talos just
over there...".  When the two Raiders in the middle went down, Erik wisely
put the survivors just out of charge range from my Canoness.  But on the
right flank, I charged the Seraphim into the Warp Puppies.  I could only get
one Sister in contact, but I was hoping that would be enough.  I figured
that would do two things.  First, it would keep the Puppies from charging
the Retributors who'd just downed the Ravager and would also keep my Seras
from getting shot up.

In the ensuing HtH, we drew at zero kills each, and both sides piled
on in.

His turn two.

On the left, his Wych squad zipped forward to drop off the Wyches for a
charge into the HB Sisters.  The Ravager spun about and got ready to zap the
(still enshrouded in smoke) Rhino also on the left.  And the second of the
warrior squads on the left advanced slightly to help cover the Ravager.   In
the middle, the Talos edged up closer to the Seraphim, licking its
proverbial chops.  The Grotesques and surviving warriors moved up to assault
the Canoness and her bodyguard.  On the right, the Warriors in the woods
edged up to charge the Seraphim while the Hellions swooped forward to try
and kill the now-recovered Immolator.

In his shooting phase, the Warriors on the far left opened up to support the
Wyches' charge, but either missed or failed to wound with their two Dark
Lances.  The Ravager opened up on the Rhino and killed it.   All but one of
the Sisters within jumped out safe.  The Sisters jumped out so that they
were around 10" from the Warriors in front of the Ravager, and Erik wisely
FoF'ed them closer as they were only armed with Splinter Cannon and I would
have been able (in my turn) to walk up and flame/assault them with ease.
Sadly, he rolled a 6 for FoF ensuring that he'd be able to charge. In the
middle, the Talos killed one Seraphim with his Sting, while the Haemonculus
opened up with his.  Fortunately the Destructor only managed to kill 2 of
the 9(!) models under it.  Whew…  The Hellions blaster shot found it's mark,
but only managed to shake the crew.  Seeing that things were tichy on that
flank, the Mandrakes appeared and charged the Retributors.

Then came the assaults.  The Wyches on the left charged in and put a hurtin'
on the Heavy Bolter Sisters killing something like 3 of them, but suffering
no losses in return.  My Sisters, sadly, broke but he couldn't catch them to
run them down.  And they were still over 50%!  The Warriors that had just
FoF'ed closer charged in and might have killed one Sister.  I might have
killed one to.  I don't remember.  But the battle was a tie and no one
moved.  In the center, the Talos charged the Seraphim, but rolled a 1 for
his attacks and only two Seraphim got mangled.  The Grotesques, Haemonculus,
and warriors charged my Canoness.  The Warrior Sybarite managed to get a
wound on the Canoness with his Agonizer and the Haemonculus put another
wound on her with his Sissorhands.  But she lived and had her Powerfist to
strike back with!  He did manage to kill one Retributor with a Grotesque,
but that was it.  In return, the Canoness smote the Haemomculus and one of
the Grotesques with her mighty S6 attacks.  Better still, I got a kill on a
Warrior and a Grotesque with the Retributors (one of the Grotesques had a
wound on it from the Raider crash).  With the Haemonculus dead, the
Grotesques failed the break test, as did the very depleted Warriors. That's
right!! You read that correctly.  MY SISTERS ACTUALLY WON A MELEE AGAINST
SOMETHING OTHER THAN A VANILLA GUARD UNIT!!!  WOO HOO!!!  Both units fell
back, but I rolled higher than either and wiped them both out.  The Talos
continued to gnaw on my Seraphim, but they held fast knowing that their
sacrifice would give the rest of the army a chance.  On the right, the melee
between the Mandrakes and the Retributors was sadly one-sided.  My cover
bonus came to naught, and the Emperor abandoned my armor save rolls. 4 of
the five Retributors fell and the last fell back.  The Drakes looked around
and then consolidated towards the big melee just to the left.  The Hellions
wheeled around and charged into the back of the Seraphim while the Warriors
in the woods also threw their weight into the melee.  Here again, though,
the Sisters faired well.  My luck might have abandoned me when the
Retributors were wiped out, but it came back with a roar as I made save
after save with my Seraphim to force another standoff.  Even with all the
Dark Eldar swarming around the Seraphim, they held their ground and actually
started to pick off the dangerous characters facing them.  The Beastmaster
and his Agonizer fell to a Bolt Pistol round to the face, while a couple of
warriors joined him.

My turn two.

On the left, my Heavy Bolter Sisters stopped at the board edge in hopes of
rallying.  My Canoness and her bodyguard advanced towards the Warrior squad
still sitting back in his deployment zone.  The shaken Immolator crew
wheeled their tank out of danger while the (still mounted up and undamaged)
Rhino-borne Sisters on the right moved into position and dismounted to flame
the Drakes and help out the Seraphim and their valiant struggle.  In the
middle, the lone Immolator stayed hidden behind the hill where it had
started the game.

In the middle of the board, the Canoness' escort opened up, with three heavy
flamers being able to bear on the Warriors in front of them.  7 Warriors
fell to the cleansing flames, and the rest fell back never to recover.  I
must point out, though, that I made a huge tactical error by flaming them.
I really should have held my fire and charged (I would have had the range),
but it's sooo damned hard to pass on massed Heavy Flamer fire when you get a
good look...  On the right, the unengaged Sisters opened up on the Drakes
and wiped them out to a man(?!?) .  The Heavy Flamer claiming 4 while bolter
shots finished the rest off.

Then to the charges!  The only unit that could move was the Sisters who'd
just obliterated the Mandrakes, and they charged into the backs of the
engaged Hellions.  And that was enough.  All the Hellions died, as did the
Warp Beasts leaving only three warriors who, faced by 5:1 odds fell back
into the woods.  I consolidated back into safety and awaited the next
turn.

In the middle the Talos continued to kill Seraphim and the Seraphim
continued to hold.  But to the left disaster struck!  The battle between my
Sisters and his warriors was fought to another stand-still, but he lost the
moral high ground roll and fell back. Since it was a Moral High ground roll,
all I could do was consolidate and that meant that he was free to shoot the
Sisters at will...  <sigh>

His turn three.

The Wyches, having toyed with my Heavy Bolter-armed Sisters turned to deal
with the Sisters who'd just seen off the Warriors.  Those warriors continued
to fall back, but rallied for later action.  To keep my Heavy Bolter Sisters
from rallying, he moved the Wyche's Raider right up next to them. The
Ravager, ignoring the Sisters in front of it, spun on its axis and brought
all three Disintegrators to bear on the Canoness and her troops. That was
about all of his movement.

The Wyches fired their two blasters into the Sisters' backs and two fell.
The Ravager took careful aim and hit the Canoness' unit with all three
Disintegrators.  All 5 surviving Retributors fell and the Canoness, joined
them as the light shining about her Halo couldn't overcome the dark energy
that engulfed her.  The warriors on the right fired their Splinter Cannon as
they fell back, but the thick armour of the Seraphim deflected the shots.

In the assault phase, the Wyches charged into the remaining Sisters and
wiped them out.  The Talos, toying with the last Seraphim neatly dissected
her and stored the parts for later play.

My turn three.

The Heavy Bolter sisters, with an enemy unit 1" away, fled off the board.
The lone Immolator in the middle sped to the right at full speed hoping to
avoid getting killed by either the Talos or the Ravager.  Joining it was the
Rhino that had carried the Canoness, as it had been ignored in all the fire.
  The Sisters on the right mounted back up into their Rhino and moved behind
some cover while the Immolator moved with them.  The Seraphim jumped
alongside the falling back warriors and wiped out the rest with bolt
pistol
fire.

And so at the end of turn three, the game was in a balance.  He had totally
wiped out my left flank, and I his.  Only his Talos and my Immolator and the
Rhino my Canoness has ridden occupied the middle.

The rest of the game was very fast and only one thing matter. What would
happen to the Immolator and Rhino?

In his turn four, the Talos sped after the Immolator while the Ravager
smashed the Rhino with three powerful shots.  The Talos caught up to the
Immolator, but couldn't get enough hits (he needed 6's) to get anything
solid.  The two Warrior squads moved towards my deployment zone.  The Wyches
mounted back up on their Raider and moved towards the middle of my
deployment zone.

In my turn, the Immolator, deciding to move someplace where it might have a
chance to do something, spun around and moved 12" back towards the middle of
my zone.

I had no shooting.

In his turn five, the Talos again raced after the Immolator, but again
couldn't hit it enough to do any damage.  The Ravager also failed to score a
hit with its one shot as it moved 12" into firing position.

My turn five, the Immolator has its chance!  The Ravager had moved close
enough with it's burst of speed to allow me to get an Inferno cannon shot on
it. So, slowing from it's breakneck flight, the Immolator slew it's turret
around and opened fire…  And WHOOSH!  The Ravager explodes in a gout of
black flame.

His turn Six.  Seeking revenge on the now vulnerable Immolator, the Wyches
move into position and open up with their two Blasters, while the Talos does
the same with its Sting.

The Blasters shoot the Inferno Canon off, while the Sting manages an
Immobilize.   The Immolator's wild ride was over.

And so it ends.   He's got 4 full units (two warrior squads, the Talos, and
the Wyches) and one damaged unit (the DL-less Raider) in my zone while I
have 4 full units (The Seraphim, the Sister's squad, a Rhino, and the last
Immolator) in his.  So he's got a 100vp edge going into the tally. Adding
up points, it's clear it's gonna be close.  We both managed to really savage
each other.  But he pulls ahead by a hair as total points are added up.

Overall a great game!  When I saw the size of the board (8' wide!) I though
I was in trouble.  I can move fast, but in a Recon mission, I would have to
stop all them Raiders…

Anyway, a very fun and tense game.  When the last Ravager blew up, I thought
"Damn!  I may actually have a shot here!"  In the end, I think we were
separated by something like 200 total VP.

And I have to thank the Emperor for His amazing Power Armor.  Other than the
one breakdown then the 'Drakes charges, I did insanely well.

Final League results were:

Erik Frye	15pts
John Swann 	10pts

Have to have another one some time Erik!  Great fun...

Vale,

JohnS