Iyanden Civil War!!!

Game 10 of the Spring / Summer season of the Northeast Ohio 40k League pitted Eldar against Eldar in "Fire from the Sky" in a bloody battle to Purge the Alien. Calling this a civil war fails to fully describe this "mirror match" of Iyanden Eldar versus Iyanden Eldar. The similarities of the two armies was startling. The alien being purged was apparently the Tau, who had allied themselves with Iyandenish Spiritseer and his wraith constructs. The other citizens of Craftworld Iyanden did not take kindly to this and sought to destroy Tau, heretical Spiritseer, and tainted wraithforms -- all toghether. The armies both included a Wraithknight (mine was a proxy made of Legos), 10 Wraithguard, at least 1 Spiritseer, and 2 or more Waveserpents. Initiative went to the pureblood Eldar. Those allied with the Tau attempted to steal the initiative, but failed. Turn 1 favored the pureblood Eldar, who pinned a group of Tau Firewarriors and destroyed one of their allied Waveserpents, stranding a group of Wraithguard in the Tau backfield. At the bottom of Turn 1, the Tau returned fire, inflicting minimal damage. Turn 2 continued to be hard on the Tau Firewarriors, killing another squad and reducing another to 2. At the bottom of Turn 2, the momentum shifted slightly because the pureblood jetbikes unwisely decided to chase the Tau Firewarriors (attempt to assault) rather than move safely away from the approaching Wraithguard. 5 D-scythes put 20 unsavable wounds on one squad of 7 jetbikes. Bye bye. Turn 3 was hotly contested, with Monstrous Creatures blasting away at each other, Serpent Fields flickering and shooting across the battlefield in both directions. In the chaos, the traitor Warp Spiders got lost twice while attempting to Deep Strike. The large number of Distort weapons must have disturbed the Webway paths that the Spiders were treading. During turn 4, one of the pureblood Spiritseers managed to cause the opposing Wraithknight to Hallucinate (Ermmm?). This was repeated on turn 5, with a group of Wraithguard and their attending Spiritseer becoming hypnotized (also Ermmm?). These two halucinations certainly cost the Tau and their allies the game. At the bottom of 5, the pureblood Eldar were ahead 9 kills to 4. Although the Tau would certainly close the gap in kill points slightly, they were very, very unlikely to catch up. The Tau honorably conceded the battle. Game 10 resulted in Eldar 21 to Tau 0. This mirror-match was largely decided by a few dice rolls -- initiative, halucinations, some key rends, and the Warp Spiders failing to arrive until bottom of 4. Good game, but it is unfortuneate that so many Eldar souls passed into the Infinity Circuit during this civil war. Maybe they too will return some day as Wraithguard.

Vect's trickery

Eldar versus Imperial Guard played on May 10, 2013.

If you don’t recall, game 3 was “I want more assault”, with table divided lengthwise and only 3 units on the board at the start of the game.  The odd deployment messed with both armies, but disrupted IG more, as firepower only trickled onto the field.

IG started with a basilisk and 2 infantry squads.  Eldar started with an artillery squad and a Raider full of wyches accompanied by Asdrubael Vect.

Eldar stole the initiative (Asdrubael actually had the initiative all along).  The 18” deployment distance combined with an open topped fast skimmer and fleet allowed Asdrubael and his harem (wyches) to turn 1 assault the basilisk (boom) and consolidate into cover.  The wyches proceeded to wreak havoc in the IG backfield for the rest of the game, earning a half dozen pain tokens.

Despite their best efforts, the IG never recovered from Asdrubael and his ladies.

Interestingly, the IG succeeded in spreading the field by bringing in much of their reserves on the opposite table corner from the wyches.  This spreading of the battlefield felt like an Eldar tactic, but was logical in retrospect with Arthur keeping his tanks safe from the wych’s haywire grenades.  By the end of the game, models were spread evenly across the entire field.

At midnight (the WYCHING hour) at the bottom of 5, Arthur called it.  If we would have continued playing, the score may have gotten closer, but Eldar had most of the points locked up.

Primary = Eldar

Secondary = Eldar

Tertiary = Eldar

MVP was easily Asdrubael, who stole the initiative, killed a DA librarian along with a bunch of guard and marines, and actually ended the game fully healthy (healed by his Obsidian Orbs).  Eldrad will never hear the end of Asdrubael’s shit after that battle.  “Who needs your runes of warding, Eldrad?  Let Vect show you how to deal with Librarians.”

I give my sincere respect and admiration to Arthur, who was a real gentleman throughout the game – even while Asdrubael was being a dick.  Great playing you, Mr. Shulsky!  The Eldar are bracing for your revenge.

Not a shutout -- despite the score

Game 2: Don’t call it a Crusade (played on May 17, 2013).

Despite prudent Eldar deployment, the Space Wolves were able to squeeze a drop pod behind Eldar lines after the space elves repulsed a similar deep strike during turn 1.  The turn 2 pod contained a troop squad, who shot ineffectively at the Eldar backfield.  Then, at the bottom of 2, Eldrad and his squad of guardians, along with a few other units, fired on the deep striking troops – and in what some would call the key role of the game, these brave Space Wolves failed their morale and ran 11 inches.  Eldrad, his allied Archon, and a parade of Guardians, chased the Space Wolves around the Eldar bastion for the next 2 turns, eventually, earning the Archon a pain token.

At the top of 4, Eldrad’s unit was the subject of extreme firepower, the Archon’s shadow field earned it’s points value as save after save was made, and those that were missed were Fortuned by Eldrad.  After over 30 wounds, snake eyes finally struck and the shadow field was lost.  With 3-4 more wounds left, both FNP and Look Out Sir were forgotten, and the Archon fell.  Before you groan at the 30 wounds absorbed, the statistical average should be 36 (1:36 is the chance of rolling snake eyes, required to fail a fortuned shadow field save).

Seeing the Archon fall inspired a different Space Wolves troop squad to charge – crossing the 10 inches that separated them from Eldrad’s unit.  The 10” charge was ACTUALLY the key role of the game.  Had that charge failed to go the 10, Eldrad’s unit could have withdrew to a safe location and the SW troops would have walked thru another turn of Eldar shooting.  Alternately, had the Eldar general not failed to remember FNP or Lookout Sir to save the last wound on his allied Archon, the charge could probably have been absorbed without the loss of Eldrad.

At the top of 5 with Eldrad dead from assault, the surviving melta-packing troops at the foot of the Eldar bastion opened up.  Detonation (7) was rolled on the Building Damage table.  Kaboom.

Full loss for the Eldar. 0-21.

I hope that Josh will agree that the game was actually much closer than the score would indicate.  Until the charge on turn 4, things were looking very good for the Eldar.  The detonation of the bastion was a suitable punctuation (exclamation mark!) for the end of the battle.

I truly enjoyed myself despite losing.  At several points during the game, Josh’s shooting roles left a lot to be desired (unfavorable scatter, etc).  He was a great sport about the occasional unlucky roles.

Until next time, GAME ON!

Shooty versus shootier

Game 1: Eldar (Matt) vs Chaos Space Marines (Dave) – also known as “shooty versus shootier”, back on April 12, 2013.

Turn 1:  CSM go first and shoot up the Eldar Vibrocannon line, killing about 2/3.  Eldar return fire, with Vibrocannons softening up several units, and glancing the allied IG armor.  War walkers and bastion emplaced weapons kill an obliterator, scoring first blood.

Turn 2: Helldrake and CSM flying transport (Valkarie?) arrive.  War walkers get shot up, removing 1 and glancing another.  Rangers get shot up a little, but the unit survives.  Last vibrocannon gets killed.  A jetbike squad #1 arrives from reserves and hides behind the bastion.  Eldar allied Venom arrives from reserves and shoots up a squad of marines, additional shooting from walkers and bastion finish off the squad of marines.

Turn 3: Chaos flyers enter hover mode.  Valkarie unloads veteran squad who put 4 flamer templates on the gardians who had been manning the vibrocannons.  Without his vibrocannon gunner friends, Eldrad becomes the center of attention.  Several saves later, Eldrad gets shot to death.  Helldrake poops on jetbike squad #1, killing all.  More war walkers & rangers get killed.  Second venom and jetbike squad #2 arrive from reserves.  Blasters on board both venoms shoot at the hovering flyers rear armor, but only immobilize one.  Last of the walkers finish off the Valkarie.  Splinter cannons take out another squad of marines.  Bastion emplaced weapons kills the veteran squad.

Turn 4: Basilisk and Griffon target jetbikes hiding in the very far corner, and kill 2/3 with Ordinance.  Rangers and walkers get finished off.  Both venoms get popped.  Helldrake and obliterators “greet” the venom passengers, killing 1 squad, but one squad survives with 3 guys hiding in ruins (gone to ground).  Jetbike squad #3 arrives from reserve, and hides behind the bastion.  Lone surviving jetbike from squad #2 jets along the Eldar board edge looking for a hiding place.  Dwindling Eldar fire power kills a few traitor IG infantry, who go to ground to reduce their casualties.

Turn 5: Night fighting goes into effect, but is quickly forgotten.  Helldrake kills the last jetbike from squad #2.  Obliterators divide their attention between the bastion and the 3 surviving venom passengers, hiding in ruins.  Bastion gets shook up, but stands.  Venom passengers are finally killed by quad laser emplacements on the aegis defense line (this should have been out of range due to night fighting). On the Eldar turn, the bastion is the only fire power left, and kills a few more traitor guard, who go to ground again to stay healthy.

Turn 6: More of the same.

Game ends at the bottom of 6 with 3 surviving troops on the CSM side, and only 2 troops on the Eldar side.

Primary is tied (both hold their own objective)

CSM takes secondary.

Eldar took tertiary.

Interesting: there were absolutely no assaults during this game.

MVP for CSM was their allied Basilisk – S9 AP2 large blast template that doesn’t need line of sight and ignores cover!!!

MVP for the Eldar was the bastion which withstood more than its fair share of fire power due to poor penetration rolls.

Logan Grimnar takes on all comers!

Game 6 “Some Like It Hot” pitted the Space Wolves of John D versus the Eldar Alliance of Matt on June 7, 2013.

For review, primary was Big Guns Never Tire, secondary was table quarters, and tertiary was First Blood.

Space Wolves won most of the opening roles, and Eldar failed to seize the initiative despite Vect’s trickery.  But, Eldar sneakiness includes more than special rules and Battle Focus – Eldar deployed stealthily hidden behind terrain pieces at center field.  This craftiness continued throughout the game, with Eldar fully utilizing every rock (and wreck) on the battlefield to deny line of sight.

On Space Wolves turn 1, Logan Grimnar and a few melta-packing buddies arrived in a drop pod.  They promptly exploded the Deldar Raider hidden at center field, scoring tertiary.  The explosion and remaining firepower of Logan’s friends failed to kill any occupants or nearby units, thanks to lucky save rolls.  On Eldar turn 1, the Asdrubael Vect and his wyches, along with a squad of Shining Spears surrounded Grimnar.  After shooting, Logan stood alone.  Logan challenged, and Asdrubael accepted.  This SHOULD HAVE been an epic fight – Logan with his S8 attacks, and Asdrubael with his 2+ Shadow Field.  But, the dreaded roll of 1 struck Vect.

On Space Wolves turn 2, a Land Raider filled with hot death closed within 24” of the Eldar forces.  Both Venoms took hull points, but survived.  Logan took on a Hekatrix, stalemating.  On Eldar turn 2, Swooping Hawks came to the rescue.  The Hawks acted as “Heralds of Victory” by landing just 4” behind the gargantuan Land Raider, and tossed their Haywire Grenades at it.  A couple lucky rolls later, and the Land Raider was a pile of wreckage with the passengers exposed.  The rest of the Eldar host lit those passengers up, allowing none to survive.  In continuing close combat, Logan challenged the Eldar Autarch, resulting in a stalemate.

On Wolves turn 3, the Swooping Hawks paid for their victory over the Land Raider with their lives and both Venoms got finished off.  The worst job in the Eldar Alliance is to be the driver of a Dark Eldar vehicle (“Can’t I just park this here and disembark with them?”)  On Eldar turn 3, the guns began to run out of targets.  Somewhere in the continuing combat of “Logan versus all comers”, both the Hekatrix and Autarch were killed.

On Wolves turn 4, a wounded group of Long Fangs and a Rhino full of nastiness castled up on their objectives, hoping to take Primary.  With no more IC’s to pick on, Logan tried his hand versus an entire squad of wyches, and handily swept them all.  The Shining Spears, having seen what happened to their Autarch and wych allies, decided to Hit and Run and try their luck versus the Rhino next turn.  On Eldar turn 4, Logan was suddenly alone, out of combat, directly in front of the Eldar lines.  No more Grimnar.

On Wolves turn 5, the Rhino squad shot at the Shining Spears, but nothing stuck.  On Eldar 5, the Spears and other jetbikes took out the marines.

With one last explosion on turn 7, the Eldar eliminated their opponent, winning all but tertiary.

Eldar 17, Space Wolves 4.

In this game, I learned a lot about challenges, and how much of an absolute tarpit Logan Grimnar can be.  He killed everything that came near him – and took his sweet old time doing it.  The moral of the story – just shoot the guy to death – he can’t challenge THAT.

The last game was fun, but THIS game was a blast.  John D is a great opponent and sportsman.  And, I REALLY enjoyed moving my squads all over the table with Battle Focus, Herald of Victory, Turbo Boost, and general mastery of Jetbike technology.

We are Eldar.  We are sneaky.  We are FAST.

The Psychic Extravaganza!

Game 5 “Here It Is!” pitted the Demons of Chris F (of Warp Dust Creations) versus the Eldar Alliance of Matt in a battle that shall be known evermore as The Psychic Extravaganza in the first part of the June 7 double-header.

For review, primary was 3 objective markers, only 1 of which was the true objective.  Secondary was Line Breaker.  Tertiary was Slay the Warlord.

This was truly a Psychic Extravaganza, with both sides boasting numerous psykers.  Eldar included a level 4 psyker, a level 3 psyker, and 2 level 1 psykers – Demons had even more!

Demons went first, and camped out in their deployment zone, because their commander was confused about Night Fighting.  Eldar went second and discovered that the objective hidden behind their bastion was the REAL one.  Eldar shooting killed a couple pink horrors, but nothing to speak of.

On turn 2, the Demon Prince started swooping across the battlefield towards the Eldar lines.  Demon shooting attacks wrecked a Venom.  Warp Spiders and Swooping Hawks arrived from reserve to begin Eldar turn 2.  The focus of Eldar turn 2 was shooting the Demon Prince before he could slam into the Eldar lines – it worked for the Eldar and they scored Tertiary while protecting their lines.

On turn 3, the masses of pink horrors and chariot riding demons came ever closer, continuing to unleash their psychic warp shooting attacks as they approached – exploding another Venom and killing several Swooping Hawks in the process, a squad of jetbikes (joined by the Eldar warlord) also got shot up.  In a set of crucial morale checks, 3 or 4 shot-up Eldar units all chose to bravely remain in the fight.  Eldar turn 3 featured more shooting and a failed 3” assault by a squad of Shining Spears – however, a 5-man squad of Kabalite Warriors made it into combat.

On turn 4, the Demon chariots assaulted the Shining Spears, killing 2 with their Hammer of Wrath.  The pile-in of the remaining spears was insufficient to get them into base contact, so they didn’t get to attack, but did escape close combat as they were fighting against vehicles.  On Eldar turn 4, those same Shining Spears fell victim to friendly fire as an Eldrich Storm scattered into their unit, dropping their number to just 2.

On turn 5, the dwindling Demon hordes continued to shoot and trudge forward and the Eldar met them with selected assaults and counter fire.  Jetbikes and Swooping Hawks began to take their position for Line Breaker (Secondary objective).

Turns 6 and 7 saw more of the same exchange as the dwindling pink tide crashed upon the Eldar shores.

In the end, the Eldar emerged with a major victory thanks to some lucky rolling and a slight mismatch in saving throws (mostly 5++ vs mostly 3+ with re-rolls).

The game was great fun for me, as I hope it was for my opponent, despite my painfully slow decision-making when casting Psychic Powers.  My opponents should bring a chess timer!

Eldar 21, Demons 0.