Deployment
Well, the deployment was possibly the worst one for the eldar. The game, big guns never tire, worked for both forces, with heavy support setting up in the rear, but the deployment – ouch!
SHort range elite fragile infantry found out that .. they were playing short edge to short edge – they had to run in front of the thousand sons gun line!!! Not a good tactical start.
Turn 1
The eldar charge down the table in a desperate attempt to hurtle forward before the Thousand Sons gunline finishes them off. The avatar, a unit of dire avengers and howling banshees hurtles down the left, while two other units of dire avengers advance on the right. Karandras, his Scorpions and fire dragons and more dire avengers advance down the middle.
The chaos stay still on the left, advance cultists and possessed down the centre, and a rhino with the sorcerer lord and chaos marines and 4 bikes including a choas lord on the right. General fire was exchanged, but not much effect either way.
Sneaky Rhino shenanigans! Aidan advanced his rhino next to his bikes for the charge – the dirgecaster eliminating overwatch for the nearby dire avengers. Saint Aidan is officially the king of Rhino tactics! The Chaos lord wipes out the first unit of dire avengers!
Turn 2
The 2nd unit of dire avengers, with bladestorm, cut down the bikers in a hail of shuriken fire, and proceed to finish the wounded chaos lord in close combat, the dire avenger exarch cowardly refusing a challenge!
The rhino was wrecked, and some of the marines killed, though that worked against the eldar – it left the scorpions and Karandras out of charge range. The chaos marines, cultists and possessed all piled forward, and a challenge between the cultist champion and karandras went fairly predictably!
The shining spears open fire on the cultists, assault them, then hit and run over to the predator. The rear guard autogun cultists take down one of the spears.
Saint Aidan’s luck turned against him at this point, with some of the worst rolls ever! Better tactics, but with rolls like that, he was falling behind anyway.
Turn 3
Swooping hawks arrive, killing the chaos sorceror behind the unit of Thousand Sons on the left. The thousand sons marines reply by wiping out the swooping hawks – AP3 bolter fire is awesome!!!
Eldar Fire Dragons retreat behind the Eldar gunline to try and set up to counterstrike the heldrake which has to arrive the following turn. Mad melee with challenges galore continues in the centre! The shining spears take down the predator.
Aidan’s rolls continued to be dire!!
Turn 4
The dire avengers fired at the thousand sons on the left, then the avatar charged into close combat. The defiler counter charged, only for the avatar to smash it to the ground, wrecking it.
The Heldrake arrived, vector struck the Shining Spears, and toasted the dire avengers on the left. The only Eldar weapon that can reach it is a missile launcher, which needs a 6 to hit. Unsurprisingly, its fine! Further challenges and odd melees continue in the middle, with karandras mobbed by possessed in the middle and finally falling to a challenge by the sorcerer lord.
Turn 5
The Heldrake moved up, and toasted the 5 reapers on the objective on the Eldar left, taking out the missile launcher. The avatar killed another thousand son or two, and the melee in the middle ended in chaos’s favor.
Summary
Flyers – wow! nuke at a fist fight time. If one side takes a flyer, you may as well call it unless you have AA or a flyer yourself, I think – or a shed load of stuff capable of taking on AV12 armour, and go by numbers. Guard might be able to cope with large numbers of heavy weapon or plasma shots – snap firing guard are just as likely to hit as anyone else. Wowsers!
Not a good game by Kipper! I was very tired, and not very tactical, which never helps, and the deployment was against me, but too many silly mistakes were made – I kept splitting up my troops. 3 seperate advances instead of one concentrated one? silly!
Brilliant if unlucky game by Saint Aidan – his dice rolls were appaling, but great tactical play.
FInal score is a little uncertain, as I’m not sure of his warlord!
We both held an objective, he had one denied by the avatar, while I lost one to a baleflamer attack by the heldrake. He got first blood, so I think chaos won, depending on his choice of warlord – if it was the chaos lord, then it was a technical draw (though clear moral victory to the forces of chaos, as they were thoroughly overrunning the Eldar lines.
