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The Long Night Part One: Embers in the Dusk: A Planetary Governor Quest (43k) Complete Sequel Up

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Assault on Fjol IV Part Seven: Closing the Distance
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    • Assault on Fjol IV Part Seven: Closing the Distance
    T=6:12:00-9:12:00

    After abit of thought you decided to spend a day resting your forces before making the final approach. After making this decision you had your forces expand the defences rather then take them down after the sun rose and continued to rotate the units in guard duty. One the Dark Eldar realised that you had fortified for the day their attacks halted, obviously a result of their general believing that attacking a fortified position in daylight is not worth the price. The Dark Eldar also declined to attack that night, most probably waiting for a better opportunity.
    T=6:12:00-7:12:00

    The next day your now well rested forces set out over the badlands at a fast pace. You used all of your mobile force and the artillery to attempt to protect the flanks of your army and detect ambushes but know that despite this you will have some problems. The Dark Eldar engaged your forces with hundreds of hit and run attacks and ambushes killing a major portion of your screen but not causing much damage to your main force. Your army continued to advance without pause until sunset and set up a basic camp in the twilight. Due to the poor defences the Dark Eldar's night attacks far more devastating then usual, killing over three million of your soldiers including most of the surviving Rough Riders who found themselves no match for their foes in the dark.
    T=7:12:00-8:12:00
    Day Seven harassment d100=39+150(skill)+40(Dark Eldar)+50(speciality)+43(Martial)=322
    Imperial Counter Harassment d100=39+148(skill)+35(Theatre Commander)+83(Local Commander)+10(fire support)+20(Drop Troopers)-30(speed)-4(fatigue)=301
    Dark Eldar kills 9d6*6=31*6=182 Iron Guard Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    10d6=32 PDF Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    4d6=24 Helltrooper Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    6d6=24 Helltrooper Drop Trooper Regiments
    Imperial Kills 3d6=10 Raider Bands
    d6=6 Reaver Bands
    d6=4 Ravager Bands
    d6/2=5/2=2.5 Wych Bands

    Day Seven Night Attacks 100=98+150(skill)+40(Dark Eldar)+50(speciality)+43(Martial)=381
    Imperial Counter Harassment d100=26+195(skill)+35(Theatre Commander)+83(Local Commander)+5(fortifications)-9(fatigue)-40(night)+20(ambushes)+10(Rough Riders)=325
    Dark Eldar kills 6d6/10=36/10=3.6 PDF Siege Infantry Brigades
    10d6/10=53/10=5.3 Iron Guard Siege Infantry Brigades
    3d6=11 PDF Infantry Regiments
    7d6*2=27*2=54 Iron Guard Light Infantry Regiments
    12d6=62 PDF Light Infantry Regiments
    3d6=8 Helltrooper Light Infantry Regiments
    7d6*2=37*2=74 PDF Rough Rider Regiments
    5d6=30 Helltrooper Rough Rider Regiments
    Imperial Kills 3d6=18 Raider Bands
    d6=4 Reaver Bands
    3d6/2=8/2=4 Ravager Bands
    2d6=10 Wych Bands

    You got your forces up a bit before dawn to prepare for setting out on the second day of travelling though the badlands. On your second day travelling though the badlands the your slightly fatigued troops continued to hold off the Dark Eldar forces at great cost, with anther two and a half million men falling in combat. Three hours into the day as you get within one hundred kilometres of the city ten macrocannons open fire at your forces. Over the day they killed six brigades of your men, a number you expected, rightly, to triple over the night. You set up camp thirty-five kilometres from the outer walls of Objective Alpha-Two a small distance out of the expected maximum range of the Dark Eldar artillery. You and Lieutenant-General Agni managed to set up several effective ambushes and a surprisingly effective defence line which kept your losses down to under one and a half million men, only half again the casualties that you inflicted on the Dark Eldar.
    T=8:12:00-9:12:00
    Day Eight harassment d100=18+150(skill)+40(Dark Eldar)+50(speciality)+43(Martial)=301
    Imperial Counter Harassment d100=71+148(skill)+35(Theatre Commander)+83(Local Commander)+10(fire support)+20(Drop Troopers)-30(speed)-14(fatigue)=323
    Dark Eldar kills 9d6*4=47*4=188 Iron Guard Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    7d6=33 PDF Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    2d6=6 Helltrooper Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    4d6=24 Helltrooper Drop Trooper Regiments
    Imperial Kills 4d6=10 Raider Bands
    2d6=6 Reaver Bands
    d6=4 Ravager Bands
    2d6=8 Wych Bands

    10 Dark Eldar Macrocannons vs Imperial Main Army d100=15+60(skill)+30(Dark Eldar)+43(Martial)=128
    Imperial Defence d100=92+148(skill)+35(Theatre Commander)+83(Local Commander)-14(fatigue)=344
    Kills 9d6*2=30*2=60 Regiments (25 Iron Guard Armour, 5 Iron Guard AA, 5 Iron Guard Artillery, 0.5 Iron Guard Siege Infantry Brigades 1 PDF Siege Infantry Brigade)

    Day Eight Night Attacks 100=31+150(skill)+40(Dark Eldar)+50(speciality)+43(Martial)=314
    Imperial Counter Harassment d100=94+195(skill)+35(Theatre Commander)+83(Local Commander)+5(fortifications)-19(fatigue)-40(night)+20(ambushes)+5(Rough Riders)=378
    Dark Eldar kills 2d6/10=4/10=0.4 PDF Siege Infantry Brigades
    4d6/10=23/10=2.3 Iron Guard Siege Infantry Brigades
    3d6/2=18/2=9 PDF Infantry Regiments
    6d6=22 Iron Guard Light Infantry Regiments
    5d6=14 PDF Light Infantry Regiments
    d6/2=1/2=0.5 Helltrooper Light Infantry Regiments
    6d6=27 PDF Rough Rider Regiments
    2d6=3 Helltrooper Rough Rider Regiments
    Imperial Kills 8d6=44 Raider Bands
    5d6/2=22/2=11 Reaver Bands
    3d6=11 Ravager Bands
    6d6=28 Wych Bands

    10 Dark Eldar Macrocannons vs Imperial Main Army d100=9+60(skill)+30(Dark Eldar)+43(Martial)=122
    Imperial Defence d100=41+148(skill)+35(Theatre Commander)+83(Local Commander)-19(fatigue)+5(fortifications)=293
    Kills 5d6*7=18*7=126 Regiments (50 Iron Guard Armour, 20 Iron Guard Mechanised Infantry, 10 Iron Guard AA, 10 Iron Guard Artillery, 1 Iron Guard Siege Infantry Brigade, 1 PDF Siege Infantry Brigade, 1 Helltrooper Siege Infantry Brigade, 6 PDF Mechanised Infantry Regiments)


    Imperial Kills
    82 Raider Bands
    27 Reaver Bands
    23 Ravager Bands
    48.5 Wych Bands

    As the final Dark Eldar raids for the night finish you and your generals plan the upcoming siege of Objective Alpha Two. Your scouts have determined that the city has three lines of defences, a two hundred kilometre long outer wall, a hundred kilometre long inner wall and a central keep. The outer wall seems to be manned by slave soldiers, from a dozen different races literally chained to their posts. According to General Richards these slaves will be far more terrified of their masters then of death and will fight to the last but will most likely be little more then a untrained civilian militia. There is a five kilometre area around the wall that is totally flat without any cover, obviously a killing field. The outer district seems to be a mix of an industrial area and a residential area for the lower class Dark Eldar and the slave population. Your scouts were not able to get any real data on the inner wall or anything continued within it.


    Currently your troops are rather fatigued from your recent rush and could be rested for a few hours before closing the final distance. However you would prefer to have at least five hours attacking Objective Alpha-One before dark so will have to keep that in mind.

    Note currant fatigue penalty is -30
    [] Rest for one hour before advancing (Reduces fatigue penalty by 6)- This would give your troops a slight breather before advancing and would barely slow your advance.
    [] Rest for two hours before advancing (Reduces fatigue penalty by 12)- This would provide your troops with a decent rest without overly slowing your advance.
    [] Rest for three hours before advancing (Reduces fatigue penalty by 18)- This would give your men time to have a good rest but force you to advance at a fast pace to make it to the city in time.
    [] Rest for four hours before advancing (Reduces fatigue penalty by 24)- Your forces would be able to catch up on missing sleep and rest enough to mostly recover from their recent forced march. On the other hand they would be forced to advance at a very fast pace to reach the city in time.
    [] Rest for five hours before advancing (Reduces fatigue penalty by 30)- Your forces would be able to totally recover from the forced march but would be need to advanced at a very fast pace to reach the city in time and even then you would only have four and a half hours before dark.
    [] Rest for one day before advancing (Removes fatigue penalty )- While this would force you to endure another day of macrocannon bombardment you could ensure that you are well rested tomorrow and will be able to advance at the break of dawn.
    [] Do not rest before advancing- This will allow you to reach the city sooner but your troops fatigue will reduce their combat efficiency by a significant amount.
    [] Write in

    [] Advance at a slow and careful pace(4km/h) – Takes seven and a half hours to reach combat range of city, one and a quarter for the Basilisks to get into range. Reduces chance of running afoul of minefields or ambushes and reduces fatigue penalty by 5.
    [] Advance at a moderate pace (6km/h) – Takes five hours to reach combat range of the city, one for the Basilisks to get into range. No effect on fatigue or ambush spotting.
    [] Advance at a fast past (8km/h)- Takes three and three quarters hours to reach combat range of the city, forty minutes for the Basilisks to get into range. Increases chance of running afoul of minefields or ambushes and increase fatigue penalty by 5.
    [] Advance at a very fast pace (12km/h)- Takes two and a half hours to reach combat range of the city, forty minutes for the Basilisks to get into range. Greatly increases chance of running afoul of minefields or ambushes and increase fatigue penalty by 10.
    [] Write in-

    Another decision to make is how to utilise your Basilisks which will be able to open fire at thirty kilometres but will have to be brought closer or given an escort due to Dark Eldar raiding forces outside the city. You will be able to have the Basilisks advance by fire and fire some shots as they advance but to but out any major quantity of fire they will have to stop and set up.
    [] Have the Basilisks accompany your forces until they reach combat range- This will prevent the Basilisks from firing until your army gets within five or six kilometres from the city but will make defending them from Dark Eldar raiding forces trivial.- Will not have to detach forces to escort your Basilisks
    [] Have the Basilisks accompany your forces until they reach ten kilometres from the city- This will prevent the Basilisks from firing until your army gets within ten kilometres from the city but will make defending them from Dark Eldar raiding forces easier due to their proximity to your main army. - Will have to detach 200 Regiments to provide protection
    [] Have the Basilisks accompany your forces until they reach twenty kilometres from the city- This will prevent the Basilisks from firing until your army gets within twenty kilometres from the city but will make defending them from Dark Eldar raiding forces a bit easier easier due to being closer to your main army to your main army. Will have to detach 400 Regiments to provide protection
    [] Have the Basilisks accompany your forces until they get within range of the city- This will allow the Basilisks to open fire as soon as possible but will make defending them from Dark Eldar raiding forces harder due to the distance to your main army to your main army. Will have to detach 800 Regiments to provide protection
    This is also the time to come up with any other plans that you will need to out into action before entering combat with the forces defending Objective Alpha-Two.

    [] Write In-
    Total: 4,383 Midgardian Regiments
    1,567 Iron Guard Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    1,577 Iron Guard Armour Regiments
    623Iron Guard Artillery Regiments (757 when you detach other Basilisks)
    385 Iron guard AA regiments
    13.7 Iron Guard Siege Infantry Brigades
    64 Iron Guard Light Infantry Regiments
    50 Iron Guard Sentinel Regiments

    19 Helguard Regiments (7 Light Infantry, 6 Armour, 6 Rough Rider)

    Total: 340 Helltrooper Regiments
    50 Helltrooper Infantry Regiments
    1.5 Helltrooper Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    52.5 Helltrooper Light Infantry Regiments
    59 Helltrooper Heavy Infantry Regiments
    55 Helltrooper Armour Regiments
    6 Helltrooper Rough Rider Regiments
    34 Helltrooper Drop Infantry Regiments
    9.2 Helltrooper Siege Infantry Brigades

    Total: 228.5 Specialist Regiments
    6 Helltrooper Vanquisher Regiments
    9 Helltrooper Hellhound/Devil Dog Regiments
    9 Helltrooper Bane Wolf Regiments
    4 Helltrooper Sentinel Regiments
    9 Helltrooper AA Regiments
    17 Helltrooper Artillery Regiments (83 when you detach other Basilisks)
    4.5 Deathstrike Batteries
    1 Life Eater Fungus Deathstrike Battery
    33 Combat Engineer Regiments
    136 PDF Transport Regiments

    Total: 1,658 PDF Regiments
    42 PDF Infantry Regiments
    295 PDF Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    210 PDF Light Infantry Regiments
    153 PDF Heavy Infantry Regiments
    513 PDF Armour Regiments
    11 PDF Rough Rider Regiments
    43.4 PDF Siege Infantry Brigades

    Total: 220 Black Irons Regiments
    17 Helltrooper Infantry Regiments
    24 Helltrooper Mechanised Infantry Regiments
    20 Helltrooper Heavy Infantry Regiments
    13 Helltrooper Light Infantry Regiments
    3 Helltrooper Armour Regiments
    25 Helltrooper Drop Infantry Regiments
    19 PDF Infantry Regiments
    41 PDF Light Infantry Regiments
    37 PDF Heavy Infantry Regiments
    22 PDF Armour Regiments

    530 Militia AA Regiments
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • durin said:
    You got your forces up a bit before dawn to prepare for setting out on the second day of travelling though the badlands. On your second day travelling though the badlands the your slightly fatigued troops continued to hold off the Dark Eldar forces at great cost, with anther two and a half million men falling in combat. Three hours into the day as you get within one hundred kilometres of the city ten macrocannons open fire at your forces. Over the day they killed six brigades of your men, a number you expected, rightly, to triple over the night. You set up camp thirty-five kilometres from the outer walls of Objective Alpha-Two a small distance out of the expected maximum range of the Dark Eldar artillery. You and Lieutenant-General Agni managed to set up several effective ambushes and a surprisingly effective defence line which kept your losses down to under one and a half million men, only again the casualties that you inflicted on the Dark Eldar.
    T=8:12:00-9:12:00
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    This was spoilered, also I think a word was missing at 'surprisingly effective defence line which kept your losses down to under one and a half million men, only again the casualties that you inflicted on the Dark Eldar'.
     
    Man it becomes hard to remember how large of an army we have to absorb these losses, because they are skincrawlingly high. I wonder if we should simply set up full defensive perimeters and then let the Timeless Army sweep across... nah, probably wouldn't work.

    The Basilisk Question is going to be vexing. Can we afford to detach eight million men to guard those things?
     
    OneirosTheWriter said:
    Man it becomes hard to remember how large of an army we have to absorb these losses, because they are skincrawlingly high. I wonder if we should simply set up full defensive perimeters and then let the Timeless Army sweep across... nah, probably wouldn't work.

    The Basilisk Question is going to be vexing. Can we afford to detach eight million men to guard those things?
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    Those men are likely to take proportionally more casualties as well due to having less of a critical mass. We try doing a creeping advance were some regiments deploy and fire while the rest keep moving, then the moving ones set up and fire while the ones behind begin to move. The problem here is that it means we present a very long target and have a reduced rate of fire until all are set up at the base.
     
    Don't forget that if we bring the Basilisks forward they will also be able to range on the second defense line without moving if we breach the wall and the can provide direct artillery support to any urban fighting.
     
    [X] Rest for two hours before advancing (Reduces fatigue penalty by 12)
    [X] Advance at a moderate pace (6km/h)
    [X] Have the Basilisks accompany your forces until they reach ten kilometers from the city
    [X] Before your forces reach the killing field, fire one full battery of Deathstrikes at the outer walls to try to open up holes in the areas most likely to be breached. Target at least two areas of the walls, so that any defense of a breach must be spread out.
     
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    We do have 4.5 Deathstrike Batteries and 1 Life Eater Fungus Deathstrike Battery. What about lunching a half battery at the second wall or the keep? That going up in smoke could scare the slave soldiers into surrender. A side not but with sll the slaves chained to their post in means that while we can't make them run they also can't be moved to fill in holes on the other parts of the walls until someone unchaineds them.
     
    Life eater missiles are a last resort, because it allows the fungus into the biosphere... And our allies don't want that. Pansies.
     
    You know if we did let the life eater fungus loose, we'd have an excellent case for giving this world to Avernus to colonize. Just saying.
     
    Write in [X]

    We need to hit hard and fast. I suggest something along the lines of breaking through the first wall with our artillery in several places. Then making tactical feints against the city. The Dark Eldar will see these false attacks as targets of opportunity as well as a necessity to keeping their city defended. Then we'll ambush the ambushes to cause a degree of casualties.

    Hopefully we can keep our main columns protected behind some fortifications and refreshed for the real siege the next day.

    Not very specific I know but just wanted to throw out my interest behind this.
     
    HanEmpire said:
    That's only half the problem. The real trick is to get them to stay in the shell.
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    Could just make it so the shell is completely warded. Anything warp related can't get past powerful wards, and yes, even teleporation counts.

    Or apply miniature void-shielding or refractor shields, which also prevent creatures from warping around...since that is how most teleporating enemies are stopped from boarding Imperial ships in 40k.
     
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    Ruirk said:
    Could just make it so the shell is completely warded. Anything warp related can't get past powerful wards, and yes, even teleporation counts.

    Or apply miniature void-shielding or refractor shields, which also prevent creatures from warping around...since that is how most teleporating enemies are stopped from boarding Imperial ships in 40k.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Wards work by preventing things entering or leaving the warp. The reason blink spiders are such an issue on Avernus is that their teleportation involves skimming along the fringe of the Warp in a way that doesn't trigger wards. As far as I know we don't have any way to stop their short range teleport, just sensors to detect it.
     
    Alanek said:
    Life eater missiles are a last resort, because it allows the fungus into the biosphere... And our allies don't want that. Pansies.
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    Hold on to the Life Eater Fungus Deathstrike Battery sure. But why not use the half battery of the regular stuff? Heck use the Life Eater first then hit it again with a few regular batteries to kill the fungus.
     
    [X] Rest for two hours before advancing (Reduces fatigue penalty by 12)- This would provide your troops with a decent rest without overly slowing your advance.
    [X] Advance at a moderate pace (6km/h) – Takes five hours to reach combat range of the city, one for the Basilisks to get into range. No effect on fatigue or ambush spotting.

    A decent rest and a good pace seems right to me.

    [X] Have the Basilisks accompany your forces until they reach twenty kilometres from the city- This will prevent the Basilisks from firing until your army gets within twenty kilometres from the city but will make defending them from Dark Eldar raiding forces a bit easier easier due to being closer to your main army to your main army. Will have to detach 400 Regiments to provide protection

    I would like to pound the enemy defenses well before we reach them, but I don't want to leave them fully exposed. 20km is more than Imperial regiments would normally get.

    [X] Before your forces reach the killing field, fire one full battery of Deathstrikes at the outer walls to try to open up holes in the areas most likely to be breached. Target at least two areas of the walls, so that any defense of a breach must be spread out.

    We should use some of our Deathstrikes here to our best advantage. Tearing open a couple holes in the walls makes sense to me.
     
    I am loath to do bandwagon but I am trusting Enjou's tactical knowledge more than mine in this case. Why can't we be orks and ingore such little things as fartigue and battle plans more complicated than 'kill it with more boys'.

    [X] Enjou
     
    Looks like current fatigue modifier is -19

    So resting 3 hours followed by advancing at a fast pace results in -6 fatigue, resting 2 hours and advancing at a moderate pace results in -7

    I'm actually leaning towards bringing our Basilisks all the way up with our forces.

    More important question... should we launch our Deathstrikes now? I doubt we want to be close to the walls when they go off.

    Should we use our Life Eater Fungus Deathstrikes?

    @durin

    What are our adviser's opinions about using Deathstrikes against the city? Specifically:

    Optimal range to use them at? (ie don't use them any closer than a certain distance)
    Targeting the wall and defenses, vs targeting enemy troops?
    - Splitting their targets between the outer wall, inner wall, and central keep
    - What is the likelyhood of wiping out the Dark Eldar upper level command force if we target some place like the central keep?
    The risk/benefit of using the Life Eater Fungus - I recall it's limited by a specific chemical to trigger, so would it spread beyond the local area?
    (Note that if the risks are so great and it was decided not to introduce it, why did we bring it instead of a regular deathstrike, and leave the life eater fungus on Avernus?)
     
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    runes said:
    We do have 4.5 Deathstrike Batteries and 1 Life Eater Fungus Deathstrike Battery. What about lunching a half battery at the second wall or the keep? That going up in smoke could scare the slave soldiers into surrender. A side not but with sll the slaves chained to their post in means that while we can't make them run they also can't be moved to fill in holes on the other parts of the walls until someone unchaineds them.
    Click to expand...
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    They will not be scared, they will fight to the death.

    More important is to break through the walls.
     
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