Hey guys back with another bat-rep. The first full fledged bat-rep from the table my brother and I made over the summer! So in this game I played against my buddy Mike and his Imperial Guard. Lets get into it!
The Terrain
The Lists
Eldar 1850
Autarch- Bike, Soulshrive, Banshee Mask
Spirit Seer- Hammer Hand, Cleansing Flame
Wraithblades x5- Axes + Shields
Windriders x3- Scatter Lasers x3
Windriders x3- Scatter Lasers x3
Hornets x2- Pulse Lasers x4
Wraithlord- Ghost Glaive, Flamers x2, Scatter Laser
-Aspect Host-
Scorpions x10- Exarch, Claw
Scorpions x10- Exarch, Claw
Shining Spear x4- Exarch, Lance
-Aspect Host-
Swooping Hawks x6- Exarch, Power Sword
Warp Spiders x5- Exarch
Fire Dragons x6- Exarch, Pike
Imperial Guard 1850
Knight Commander Pask- Executioner- Sponson Plasma Cannons, Lascannon
Punisher- Sponson Heavy Bolters, Lascannon
Punisher- Sponson Heavy Bolters, Lascannon
Platoon Command
Priest+ Platoon x60- Lascannons x3
Valkyrie- Missile Pods x2
Veterans x10- Plasma x2
Veterans x10- Melta x3
Basilisk
Eradicator
Leman Russ- No upgrades
Deployment+Mission: Mike one the roll to go first, and we were playing Purge the Alien so simple enough on that front. He deployed 1 Leman Russ all the way in the left hand corner, Pask and his buddies in the center and his platoon, 1 unit of Veterans, the Basilisk and the Eradicator in the ruins on the right.
For my part, I deployed the Fire Dragons in their Serpent in the center and out of LOS, the Spiders on the extreme left out of LOS, the Wraithblades and Wraithlord on the extreme right (as far away as possible from the 24" wheelhouse of Pask and his boys) with the Scorpions infiltrated danger close to the Eradicator and the 60 man platoon... but thankfully out of LOS. They were gonna have to move very close to the Wraithlord and Wraithblades if they wanted to flush them out. If you look in the bottom left hand corner of the last picture below... you can perhaps just barely make out the presence of the Scorpions via the white teeth of their chainswords
Turn 1
Imperial Guard- So with most of my stuff in reserves and out of LOS his target choices were simple... shoot what you can see! The only obvious targets being the Wraithblades. He unloaded the Basilisk, the Eradicator and as many platoon Infantry as could make range (Forward for the Emperor helping out) but only killed 2 of the Wraithblades after some bad scatters. He then charged forward Pask and his wing-men right into the center of the table... clearly within range of the Fire Dragons! This is the third time he's done something like this, 2 times with his Imperial Knight and now with Pask and I don't know how many hundreds of points worth of Leman Russ goodness. I don't get it! Nerves, just not pay attention? I made sure to point it out a couple of times before hand but... oh well.
Eldar- So to begin with I just did a tiny bit of shuffling with the Scorpions to keep them out of LOS, waiting for that 2nd turn charge which was certainly going to happen against the Platoon in the ruins. I moved and ran my Wraithblades and Wraithlord up shifting out of LOS of the Eradicator. Then I moved my Dragons in their Serpent forward and blow up 2 of Pasks buddies and inflicating a hull point on the Knight-Commander himself. Meanwhile the Spiders jumped right in the face of the Leman Russ in the extreme left flank preparing to dance around him and eventually get rear armor. They were right the edge of the board to help force those blast markers scattering away.
Turn 2
Imperial Guard- So reeling from the loss of Pask, the Guard try and re-assemble their lines and push back against the Wraithblades and Wraithlord who are closing in fast... yet instead of falling back and relying on the range, he advances the Platoon and tries to get into rapid fire range. Certainly a big mistake IMO as he's guaranteed the Wraithlord and Scorpions will make contact even if he miraculously manages to kill all the Wraithblades. Unsuprisingly the lasguns prove ineffective and the Wraithblades go unharmed. The Eradicator can't see anything, the Basilisk scatters wildly, as does the Leman Russ on the extreme left flank who fires all the way across the field at the Wraithlord. Man scatter dice are so brutal! I wish it would go back to 2nd edition style where you only use the scatter dice if you fail to hit using normal direct fire roll. However Pask avenges his battle-bros and wipes out the Fire Dragons. The Chimera with Veterans lets off some fire at the Wave Serpent but casues no damage. I feel bad for my opponent because I can already see the writing on the wall.
Eldar- Long story short all my reserves come in! The assault units all move up within 1 inch while the Shining Spears tuck in behind them out of LOS behind a ruin. The Hornets outflank right next to the Basilisk, while I roll poorly for the 2nd unit of Scorpions (their debut!) and they show up on the extreme left flank next to that lone Leman Russ! Shooting commences and I blow up the Basilisk quite easily killing some Guardsmen. A unit of laser bikes and the Hawks harass the fearless Platoon (targetting their left flank as not to increase the charge distance for my Scorpions and Ghost Warriors). While the other laser bikes shoot up a Chimera blowing it up while simultaneously positioning themselves to to get rear armor on Pask a turn later, while the 2nd unit of Scorpions inflict 2 hull points on the Leman Russ shooting his rear armor! Then the assault phase begins all the way on the left flank. I then charge forward and kill an ungodly amount of Infantry in the platoon (including the Priest)... yet I killed so many they are out of range of counter-attacking even after their pile in move! On top of that they break leadership manage to escape my sweeping advance! Crap! At least they are snap firing but that was a minor disaster! Perhaps I over did it?
Turn 3
Imperial Guard- So the Valkyrie shows up and unloads into the Scorpions killing a number of them. The Platoon again targets the Wraithblades and do nothing. Pask unloads into the Shining Spears killing all but the Exarch and the Autarch. The Leman Russ tries to shoot the Scorpions who shot him up with pistols the turn previous but the shot scatters of the table. The Eradicator then shoots into the Hornets but only inflicts a single hull point. Not a strong counter-punch by the Guard however my Eldar are now out in the open and vulnerable to what firepower remains.
Eldar- The Wind Riders target the left flank of the Platoon which has rallied and they cause them to break and run off the board! Damn! I wanted my Autarch to make contact and power up his Soulshrive! Oh well... The Spiders tag up the Leman Russ they and the Scorpions have been harassing but fail to do any damage. Then in the Assault Phase the Wraithblades get bogged down in cover, while the Wraithlord, the Autarch and Shining Spears Exarch all charge forward to target the Eradicator which they destroy in combat. The Scorpions then go after the Platoon Command Squad wiping them out, while the second unit of Scorpions assault the left flank Leman Russ and destroy it. Way to go new Scorpions! The Eldar are on an assault rampage!
Turn 4
Imperial Guard- Pask is amazingly still alive and he blasts the Swooping Hawks back to the Webway with an insane volley of accurate firepower. The Valkrie touches down dropping off a unit of Veterans in the ruins who go after the Wraithlord but only inflict a single wound. The Valkrie targets a unit of Windriders but they pass all their saves. Another tough turn for the Guard..
Eldar- The Eldar swoop in for the kill... the Autarch, Shining Spear Exarch and Wraithblades converge on the Veterans... the Autarch whiffs (damn it!) but Exarch and Wraithblades finish them off. The Wind Riders then blast up Pask stripping his last 2 hull points. Meanwhile the Wraithlord charges into the Valkrie tearing the hovering flyer out of the sky. With only 3 Veterans (the guys who got out of the exploded Chimera) left we decide to call the game.
Post-Game Thoughts- This was a very fun game despite being so one-sided. It was big mistake to move those Leman Russ' right in front of the Fire Dragons turn 1. It sort of took the wind out of their sails and a good deal of the drama. I had limited anti-tank in this game but being able to take out most of his armor turn 1 really negated that challenge. Mike is a fantastic guy and wins a lot of games, but for some reason he seems to always charge a very important mech. unit right in front of those Fire Dragons in our games, its crazy! Oh well at least we had a fun time and a lot of laughs. It was great fun to get all my assault units into combat as well.
I hope you guys like the pics... the lighting was pretty dramatic. Anyway guys hope you enjoyed the bat-rep and I'll be back soon with some more hobby progress. Take care guys and talk soon!