Cestivus XT battle report

From: Sergeant Jeponicin Jyarkovitch

To: Mech-Team A-421, Ambassador Rein, The Holy High Esteemed Emperor Of Humanity whom I do not expect to call at my command.

Subject: Alarming loss against Eldar

In the humid air of Cestivus XT, our men were getting a little hot under the helmet before the battle, as we saw the sheer number of troops facing us. At approximately 25:10 Cestivus XT time , our ships caught sight of an Eldar encampment, about 20 metres wide and ten or so long. We landed at 25:43, after preparing our men, (Three Techmarines, four of the Tactical Squad, the Co-Pilot on a Land Speeder with a gunner and myself) and we were ready at the airlock before opening it and allowing ourselves out.

The Co-Pilot rushed to the back and unloaded the Speeder, while I set about rallying the troops. The tacticals had simply bolters and armour. The Techmarines followed behind the Speeder, now taken out and with the Gunner and Driver on it. I went with the tacticals. We found refuge in a small clearing approximately 60 metres from the camp. We set up barricades and a small bunker out of Uyinbags and wood. I placed two tacticals in there, the other two kneeling by barricades. The Techmarines hid in a crater, probably caused by a krak missile. The speeder stayed a few hundred feet away, awaiting the moment to drive in and blow the camp once we were finished.

I sent a radio transmission to the camp once the techhies had cracked it. It told them to get their despicable worthless alien asses out here. Not particularly graceful but we had to bait them out, and insult was the most efficient way to do it. They replied with a reaper shot blasting them a path through to roughly the area we were stationed. How they worked it out I had no idea, but I had no time to think on it as three Warp Spiders and a Farseer materialised out of nowhere. The tacticals opened fire, bolter fire ripping bark from the tall, elegant trees that adorned this ancient forest. A stray shot hit the warp spider at the back-left of the triangle formation, his warp generator hissing and spluttering as he was thrown back, death spinner loosing a net of sharp fibre onto a tree.

The Farseer shot at me with a pistol. I ducked, turning and sprinting behind a fallen tree. The Farseer snapped the mind of one of the tacticals, who promptly ran into a death spinner and was trussed up in supersharp metal mesh that cut at him like a viper. The boltgun blared out and missed terribly before his death wad brought about by the aptly named death spinner.

I shot out at the fallen Warp Spider, who flipped and landed face down, spinner falling to my feet. I swapped it for my Frag launcher, giving that to a Techmarine, who fired immediately onto a group of five guardians flanking us, of which three met their end. A shuriken catapult took one of the Techmarines down, a shuriken embedded in his skull. A boltgun killed the Farseer, a lucky hit by one of the men in the bunker, but now things were really getting heavy for us. We had lost two men out of eight (A quarter) in the space of thirty seconds, and we had taken 5 of their eleven (as two Dark reapers had taken their place metres away, shooting the bunker, reducing it and the people inside it to mere ash, making a whole half lost)

The Techmarines moved next to me, the one with the frag launcher barely missing a Warp spider, who meshed him within seconds. Another man down and we were seriously considering a retreat. I fired the spinner and it tied two guardians together, lopping their legs off and dicing up their torsos. The tactical man left radioed the speeder to help us out. That was the last thing he did, besides killing another spinner, because a piece of shrapnel caught him in the back at mid-retreat.

So I was stuck behind a log with one remaining Techmarine awaiting a vehicle to board. A spinner barely missed my head so I ducked, shooting a frag at a tree. It fell, blocking the path of the last Spider. The Techmarine took out his Bolter pistol and stood up.

' For the emperor! ' He cried, running out and firing wildly at a dark reaper. It fell, but the other one fired on him, flames consuming him like a lancewolf. I grunted and shot a few more frags into the opposing Eldar. The reaper threw one back, destroying my cover and throwing me against a tree.

'Bastards' I muttered, rolling and ducking behind a tree stump. The Speeder came from behind me, the gun keeping the remaining two Eldar at bay. I jumped on and we turned around. The gunner shot more at a reaper, who ducked. I shouted out in alarm as a swooping hawk landed in front of us, throwing his sword , which struck the front weapon. He then jumped on, and was blasted off by the gunner. Two striking scorpions chased after us, mandiblasters sounding. The gunner finished one off, helmet snapping back, before the other one jumped on and slit his throat. I turned and punched the alien off, who shot at us with a pistol until he was in the distance, and I could see him relay our position to more troops.

A prism cannon sounded, and bits of wood flying all over the place told me it was aiming at us. Another one knocked out speeder offline. I jumped off along with the co-pilot.

'Shit,' He shouted, as the piece of machinery burst into flames. We ran through endless forest until we came across the ship, under heavy fire from Dire Avengers. I jumped on, the co-pilot giving me a brief 'thanks' as I pulled him on. The three that we had left on the ship were at the guns or the wheel, as we gave them the OK to take off.

So, in conclusion, I think the Eldar technology and tactical prowess are far superior to our own, and we should take them off the list of races to destroy until we have developed better weapons. I have brought back a Death Spinner to copy, perhaps this is the first step to victory. In truth, the loss at Cestivus XT was embarrassing. To prevent other embarrassing defeats, I suggest that we withdraw.

Your servant always,

Ser. Jyarkovitch