The capture of Farseer Altair
Farseer Altair met the gaze of his captors with blue-steel eyes. To the White Scars space marine patrol that had seized the Eldar psyker, it seemed to verge on arrogance. Surely he realised that there would be no escape; that he would be taken back to the chapter and interrogated by the Inquisitors? It had been so easy to take him as he explored alone.
Altair said nothing. His silence only added to the marines’ feeling that their prisoner knew he was beaten and lost to the Eldar host.
The Eldar host, just two kilometres away and still undetected, continued its approach.
The White Scar’s dreadnoughts, which had been posted on the perimeter of the makeshift camp, finally spotted the first signs of an oncoming enemy. ‘Host’ was an inadequate word to describe the vast numbers heading rapidly towards the cratered ruins on the outskirts of the ancient city.
“Report!”
“Five detachments, sir. Advancing on a broad front.”
“Call in support. What do we have close by?”
“Two detachments of Battle Sisters. And there’s a fight of interceptors not too far away.”
The Eldar jetbikes and Vypers skimmed over the planet surface with astonishing speed. The Swooping Hawks and Scouts advanced through the city ruins towards the outlying Space Marine sentries. A host of Aspect Warriors took the centre. Somehow, the Eldar already knew that a relief column would be arriving and posted another detachment to hold off whatever wou8ld be coming its way. A dancing troupe of Harlequins skipped over the landscape, eager for mayhem. The performance was about to begin.
The Wild Riders on their jetbikes and Vypers hit first. Even Dreadnought armour failed under the sheer weight of firepower. Humanity struck back with a sortie from the five Angel Interceptors, raining destruction from above.
The Sisters of Battle leapt into their Rhino and Immolator vehicles, answering the call from the besieged Marines. Racing towards the city, they opened fire on the Eldar set to delay their advance. Would they arrive in time?
The White Scars came under intense pressure, attacked from two directions at once. How long could they hold out?
The answer was ‘not long enough’. The combination of Swooping Hawks, Scouts and Wild Riders wiped out the Space Marines detachment and, although they took many casualties, enough survived to release Farseer Altair from his captivity.
“You are here”, was all he said to his rescuers. It was a statement of inevitability.
It was too late to save the White Scars but the Sisters vowed revenge and headed straight into the fiercest of the fighting. Recapturing the Farseer became their new objective. The Angels reappeared, re-fuelled and re-armed, to strike again and the Wild Riders.
So few left now.
The Eldar delaying force was almost spent so the Aspect Warriors turned to face the oncoming Sisters. The Harlequins saw an opportunity to engage with the second Sisters detachment and also turned around. The end game promised to be brutal to both sides.
The Wild Riders went into overdrive and raced towards the far horizon. If they could get past the Sisters, the Farseer would again be safe.
Laser fire, Eldar shurikens, rocket blasts and deadly hand to hand fighting broke out all along the line. The Sisters were being forced slowly back but enough were left to block the Eldar’s retreat.
The Angels appeared one more time; but which target should they hit? They chose the Aspect Warriors who were about to launch a final assault against the centre of the Sisters’ line.
The few remaining Wild Riders looked up, saw the Interceptors fly over their heads and smiled. Now was the opportunity they had hoped for. Throwing their machines in to maximum acceleration, they roared past the Sisters of Battle and away to their base.
Farseer Altair had achieved his objective. One Space Marine detachment destroyed, two Sisters of Battle detachments severely depleted. Surely even the humans must have realised his capture had been just a little to easy…
Many thanks to Matthew McManus for a hugely enjoyable game of Epic 40K.
Photos of the game are posted in the club’s Facebook profile.