Turn One:  Propelled by threats of pain and suffering whispered in the wind, the Imperial Guard forces were the first to fire.  As though mocking them, great sinewy tendrils of plant life sprung forth from the seemingly dead land, entangling the feet of the Guardsmen and entwining around the wheels of their mighty vehicles.  The Basilisk, Leman Russ, and Ratling Colonial Sharpshooters were all hopelessly mired as the muscular pseudo plants stirred up the dune on which they were, making any movement impossible.  Luckily, however, this was only a nuisance as they did not wish to move anyway.

Green Command, however, was not so lucky.  Great tendrils of fleshy plant twined about them and dragged them screaming below the soil.  The men of Green Platoon first thought their commander dead until they saw five human forms claw their way free of the sickly earth several hundred meters off.  Unbelievable at first, it soon settled in that Green Platoon had been transported directly into the midst of the Eldar lines.  Dazed for several moments, only slightly less so than the crew of the War Walkers next to them, Lieutenant Haig of Green Command quickly barked orders at his men to move towards the War Walkers.  The rest of the Imperial forces, dumbfounded by the events around them, held motionless.

The familiar thunder of the Basilisk’s cannon snapped the Imperial Guard back into action.  However, it did little more than that:  the shell exploded in front of the crew of a Shadow Weaver, but the Guardians hugged the concrete embankment for protection.  The Ratlings, ignoring the swirling mass at their feet, took aim at the Shadow Weavers. Unfortunately, their targets were too far off.  The entirety of Green Platoon followed suit, shooting at the Eldar support weapons.  By a combination of poor marksmanship and superior protection, not a single Guardian fell.  It finally fell to the Leman Russ, but even it’s mighty battle cannon could only fell a single Guardian.

Blue Platoon concentrated all of it’s fire on the only thing it could:  the tiny squad of Dark Reapers huddling behind the concrete embankment.  Three autocannons and a lascannon opened fire, killing two of the Aspect Warriors, leaving the Exarch alive.  Rather than fall back in the face of overwhelming firepower, the Reaper Exarch issued a dire threat that echoed across the battlefield.

In the midst of the Veélnan lines, Green Command fired both meltaguns at Al Vayle’s Wave Serpent.  Unfortunately, both shots went wide as the men were still rattled by their rather unsettling experience.  Lieutenant Haig rallied his men and led them in a charge against the War Walkers.  There was absolutely no way Green Command could hope to hurt the machines, but they could tie them down and prevent them from being effective in the battle.  However, it was not to be.  Green Command found out the hard way that Veélnan War Walkers are much more nimble than Imperial Guard Sentinels.  Before they had even reached them, the Walkers struck down four of Guardsmen, including Lt. Haig.  The lone meltagunner had simply had too much and his nerve broke.  His flight was impeded by the tangling grasses and he was quickly run down by the agile War Walkers.

Farseer Meési cast her mind into the future and saw great ropy tendrils dragging the Shadow Weavers and their crew below the earth.  She warned the crew of their fate and their probable location moments before they were subsumed into the earth.  The Eldar did not seem as frightened as the Imperial Guardsmen had been, but they were certainly concerned.  With twanging sounds, all three of the Wave Serpents and the Farseer’s jetbike broke free of the vines that had reached up to grasp at the skimmers.  Their jets screaming, the Wave Serpents soared through the skies, bearing down on the Imperial Guard western flank.  The War Walkers advanced slowly, trying to avoid the turbulent river that seemed to be trying to bat them off the narrow bridge.  Farseer Meési glided in behind them.  His view blocked by the Wave Serpents that zoomed over him, the Dark Reaper Exarch moved forward, pulling himself free of the flora that impeded him.

Showing remarkable discipline, the Shadow Weavers were no more than half way free of the gray earth before they began to calibrate their weapons.  As Meési had foretold, they appeared on the other side of the concrete embankment, between the War Walkers and the Wave Serpents.  Not losing a moment, they opened fire on Blue Platoon.  The three monomolecular nets sailed high overhead with a soft whoosh.  The beautifully deadly meshes floated onto Blue Three and Blue Command.  Lieutenant Montgomery of Blue Command snapped orders at his men not to move, to simply let the nets fall to the ground.  Sadly, only a few men in Blue Three listened.  They panicked and jostled their comrades trying to get free, only making the situation worse.  Angrily, Lt. Montgomery lunged forward to thrust one of the foolish men out of the way.  This proved to be fatal as the mesh settled directly over Montgomery himself, shredding the man to pieces. (I was very happy about my Shadow Weavers doing what they were designed to do! - Mer)

When it was done, Lt. Montgomery and all but one man of Blue Three was dead.  Staff Sergeant Parsons quickly assumed command, ordering the frightened young man that was Blue Three to man the autocannon.  Barking commands,  Sgt. Parsons calmed the fears of Blue Command as well.

In the center of the table, the War Walkers took aim at Green Platoon, but only two of the gun platforms were in range.  Despite unleashing no less than 13 bolts of coherent light, the War Walkers only managed to kill 3 men of Green One.  Shrugging off these minor losses, Green One held its ground.

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