I played an excellent game against my friend IronImmortal and his Iron Warriors. It was a slugfest with ITC Mission 6 and probably one of the most exciting games I have played. I brought a mixed force of Ulthwé to try out some new units and was not disappointed in their performance. This game was a long and brutal slugfest, probably one of the most gripping games I have played. I successively thought I was sure to win, sure to lose, sure to win, and sure to lose again.
Army Lists
Blazinghand’s List - Ulthwé2,000 pts - 1 Battalion, 1 Vanguard, 1 Spearhead - 8 CP
+HQ+
(WARLORD) Autarch with Star Glaive, RELIC: Faolchu’s Wing
Eldrad Ulthran
Farseer with Witchblade
Warlock with Witchblade
Warlock with Witchblade
+Troops+
5 Dire Avengers, one is Exarch with 2 Shuriken Catapults
6 Dire Avengers, one is Exarch with 2 Shuriken Catapults
20 Guardian Defenders + 2 Shuriken Cannon Platforms
+Elites+
5 Fire Dragons, one is Exarch with DB Flamer
5 Fire Dragons, one is Exarch with DB Flamer
10 Wraithguard with Wraithcannons
+Fast Attack+
6 Warp Spiders, one is Exarch with two Death Spinners, Powerblades
+Heavy Support+
1 Support Weapon with D-Cannon
1 Support Weapon with D-Cannon
1 Support Weapon with D-Cannon
+Dedicated Transport+
Wave Serpent with 3 Shuriken Cannons, Vectored Engines
Wave Serpent with 3 Shuriken Cannons, Vectored Engines
IronImmortal’s List - Iron Warriors2,000 pts - 1 Battalion, 1 Spearhead - 7 CP
+HQ+
(WARLORD) Daemon Prince with Wings - Hellforged Sword, Storm Bolter, RELIC: Fleshmetal Exoskeleton
Chaos Lord with Jump Pack - Combi-Bolter, Power Fist
Chaos Lord - Combi-Bolter, Chainsword
+Troops+
12 Cultists with autoguns, 1 is Champ with autogun, 1 has Heavy stubber
5 Tactical Marines, 1 has Autocannon
5 Tactical Marines, 1 has Autocannon
+Elites+
10 Khorne Berzerkers, all with Chainaxe + Chainsword
Helbrute with Twin Lascannon, Missile Launcher
+Fast Attack+
6 Raptors, 2 have Plasma guns, Sergeant has Combi-Plasma
+Heavy Support+
Forgefiend with Hades Autocannons, Ectoplasma Cannon
Maulerfiend with Lasher Tendrils
3 Obliterators
5 Havocs, 2 have Lascannons
5 Havocs, 2 have Lascannons
5 Havocs, 2 have Lascannons
+Dedicated Transport+
Chaos Rhino with 2 Combi-Bolters
The grey incomplete model is a Daemon Prince conversion in progress.Overall, I’m feeling quite excited about my list. This is the debut of my Warp Spiders, as well as my first usage of D-Cannons in the new edition. Since D-Cannons got a significant price drop in the Codex, they have a lot more potential now. I’m also eager to see how my huge blob of Defender Guardians fares now that the Codex is out. I’m not packing an Avatar, but the Farseer casting Will of Asuryan should handle things. Perhaps I can use some stratagems and buffs on this large unit to get some good effeciency.
Pre-GameFor Mission Selection, We rolled ITC Mission 4, “What’s Yours is Mine.” This is your standard 2-objective mission, but with the ITC rules: progressive + end-of-round scoring, player-choosable secondary objectives, and a twist. Each player gets to deploy an objective in their own deployment zone, but the objective itself is a 9 inch bubble, and is controlled by number of units within 9 inches, with rules such as Objective Secured ignored. If you want to control the objective, you simply need more units near it. Furthermore, if a player controls both objectives at the end of turn, that’s worth an extra bonus point.
For Pre-Game Selections, I gave my Autarch the Fate Reader Warlord Trait to get some extra command points. Eldrad went with Guide, Doom, and Executioner, and the Farseer went with Fortune and will of Asuryan. One Warlock took Quicken/Restrain and the other took Protect/Jinx. IronImmortal’s Daemon Prince took a Warlord Trait that I don’t remember, as well as the Warptime spell.
For Deployment Zones, IronImmortal rolled up Front-Line Assault, the chevron-shaped Long Table Edges deployment. He picked one deployment zone and after we laid down objective markers, I got to start deploying in the other.
Then, we picked secondary objectives. I went for Recon, Headhunter, and Big Game Hunter. IronImmortal picked Headhunter, as well as Kingslayer on my Autarch, and The Reaper.
The location of his objective marker was blocked by the tree, so I have drawn it in.Deployment began. I used Webway Strike to hold my Guardian squad and my Wraithguard squad in reserve, and also began my Warp Spiders in reserve, hoping to have some flexible units to respond to whatever happened in the game. I laid down my two wave serpents full of aspect warriors in the front and center, since I’ll need to get close to use the Shuriken Catapults and Fusion Guns. I placed the D-Cannon platforms as far forwards and out of LoS as possible. Eldrad and the Autarch started outside, to give the Autarch’s command bonuses and for the use of the Forewarned stratagem. My other characters rode in the two serpents. IronImmortal kept his jump pack infantry and Oblits in reserve, but otherwise deployed aggressively with his Fiends, Daemon prince, and a Rhino full of Berserkers. His Helbrute with its shooty equipment stayed far back, and his Havocs and Tactical marines spread out across his deployment zone in cover. The Cultists were front in center, likely for screening.
We rolled off for first turn, and IronImmortal won. I failed to seize.
The Game BeginsTop of Turn 1 (Iron Warriors):The Iron Warriors cursed machines surge forward. On my left, the Rhino full of Berzerkers Advances and pops smoke, while the Forgefiend moves forward for an angle on my vehicles. In the center, a mob of cultists, the Maulerfiend, and the Daemon Prince move up. Obliterators emerge from reserve, and I activate the Forewarned Stratagem. A D-cannon platform sends one of them sputtering into the abyss.
His Daemon Prince attempts Warptime to get into the fight, but Eldrad denies it. His shooting knocks a significant wounds off of the right side Wave Serpent, blows away one D-Cannon, and wounds another.
The Forgefiend rushes in to finish the job.
Despite Eldrad’s heroic intervention, nothing can be done for the Wave Serpent. It goes down, though 3 Dire Avengers, the Quicken Warlock, and 5 Fire Dragons emerge from the wreckage.
IronImmortal has scored points for destroying a unit and holding his home objective.
Bottom of Turn 1 (Ulthwé):Losing that Wave Serpent reduces the mobility of my Fire Dragons a lot, but more importantly exposes them to a lot of small arms fire. Luckily, IronImmortal popped it in the Assault phase, so they were protected from shooting. I draw Eldrad back from assault, opening the Forgefiend up for shooting. I move my Fire Dragons and Dire Avengers into position to take advantage of this. The other Fire Dragon squad and a Farseer disembark from the remaining Wave Serpent. The Fire Dragons move up to fire on the Forgefiend, while the Farseer moves to support some units that I will bring in via deep strike: the large Guardian squad, on the right. On the left, I bring in the Wraithguard to deal with the Rhino and Forgefiend.
In the psychic phase, Eldrad puts some mortal wounds on the Maulerfiend and dooms it, then Guides the Guardians. The Farseer Fortunes them and puts up Will of Asuryan. The Quicken Warlock whiffs his spell.
In shooting, the Rhino and Maulerfiend are disintegrated, earning me some BGH points. The Forgefiend takes a beating but lives on. Shuriken shots from the Wave Serpent (which I realize during the shooting phase I forgot to move: oops!) and the Guardians take care of some marines and the cultist squad. Overall, a pretty successful phase.
The Obliterators seem like a huge threat, so I charge them with the Guardian squad. The plan is to tarpit them for a turn or two until I can smite them down or deal with them some other way. The Guardians get in. The assault is, of course, pretty unremarkable. Guardians can barely hurt Oblits, and 2 Oblits will easily wipe a couple Guardians per turn, but never be able to escape.
For the end of turn, I earn a point for killing a unit and holding my own objective, as well as a recon point. Since I wiped 3 units to IronImmortal’s 2 kills, I earn a bonus point for killing more units this turn. As we each hold one objective, no bonus point is awarded for holding more objectives. At this point, I’m feeling pretty good. I took care of the immediate problems, have taken down an expensive Forgefiend and the Rhino carrying his elite assault unit, and tied up the Oblits, neutralizing over a quarter of his army.
Some scenic shots:
Top of Turn 2 (Iron Warriors):Ironimmortal’s gunline mostly remains stationary. His Daemon Prince moves up to challenge my Exarch, his Berserkers set up a charge on the Wraithguard, and his Raptors and Jump Pack Lord come in to shoot at my psykers from behind. I spend CP to shoot at the Raptors on the way in with a Wave Serpent, which shreds a couple of them.
Shooting from the Forgefiend and the marines destroy the 5-elf Fire Dragon squad that shot the Forgefiend last turn. Lascannons mostly miss or don’t have line of sight to my vehicles, though one well-placed shot peels 4 wounds off of a D-Cannon platform. Shooting from the Helbrute takes down one Wraithguard.
The Raptors charge the Farseer, Daemon Prince charges the Autarch, and Berserkers charge the Wraithguard. They all make their charges, though the Wraithguard pick off a Berserker on the way in.
The Raptors chew through the Farseer, and the Daemon Prince takes out the Autarch effortlessly before consolidating into my Support Batteries. Two Wraithguard fall to the wrath of the Berserkers. The Guardians continue to tarpit the Obliterators, failing to wound the Oblits and only taking one casualty.
IronImmortal scores his Kingslayer and Headhunter secondaries for some points, and picks up points for killing a unit and for holding his home objective.
Bottom of Turn 2 (Ulthwé):Things are not looking good. With the Autarch and my defensive Farseer down, I’ve lost a lot of my support. Eldrad and the two Warlocks will have to do a lot of heavy lifting. On top of that, the Daemon Prince consolidating into my D-Cannons as well as one of my Fire Dragon squads means that most of my anti-tank firepower is out of the picture, while the Oblits, the Helbrute, the Forgefiend, and the Daemon Prince still live.
I withdraw all my units from assault. The Wraithguard fall back and will still be able to shoot, but the D-Cannons will not. My Protect Warlock and Dire Avengers hop out of the Wave Serpent before it runs forward. The Wave Serpent will try to make a nuisance of itself in his backlines and draw fire. The Dire Avengers move to get shots on the Raptors and the Jump Pack Lord. All my anti-tank elements and psyker support cluster around the Daemon Prince, who is right now the largest threat. The Warp Spiders come in from reserve behind the Berserkers and near a tactical squad, ready for their debut.
Eldrad whiffs Doom but gets some moral wounds on the Daemon Prince. Jinx hits the Daemon Prince, and Quicken gets the Wraithguard close enough to legally target him. Shooting from all the Wraithguard and the Fire Dragons together brings him down. The Warp Spiders fire into the rear of the Berserkers, dropping them to 3 models. The Dire Avengers clean up the Raptors with some help from the Wave Serpent, but the Chaos Lord with Jump Pack lives on.
The Warp Spiders fail their charge against the hapless Tactical Squad. The Wave Serpent whiffs the charge on the two Havoc squads. The Guardians continue to tarpit the Oblits, with the two units dealing little damage to each other.
I pick up a point for getting a kill, a point for holding my objective, a kingslayer point, and a recon point. At the end of the battle round, we are drawn for objectives, but IronImmortal killed more units, earning him a bonus point.
At this point, I feel like I have recovered from the second wave of assault, and still have half my Wraithguard and half my Fire Dragons. IronImmortal’s Deep Strikers have mostly been neutralized, and only 3 Berserkers remain. With my D-Cannons able to shoot again next turn, I feel confident I will be able to pull into the lead and push toward his gunline.
Current Score: 9 points IronImmortal, 10 points Blazinghand.
Top of Turn 3 (Iron Warriors):IronImmortal jumps his Jump Pack Lord over the Dire Avengers that ran after him and sets up a charge on my injured Warlock, who was subject to some boltgun fire previously by the Raptors. His Berserkers move behind a box to set up an overwatch-free charge on the Fire Dragons. Otherwise, his units stand still.
Lascannon fire fails to significantly damage the Wave Serpent, but heavy weapons knock one of my support batteries down to 1 wound remaining and scratch the paint on another. I am now down to 3 Wraithguard.
The Chaos Lord charges the Warlock, and the Berserkers charge the Fire Dragon, successfully. Eldrad intervenes alongside the Warlock.
The Berserkers have a bad couple of fight phase activations and only chew through three Fire Dragons, and cannot consolidate into the remaining two as the Wraithguard are closer. The Warlock makes his saves against the Chaos Lord, and the Warlock and Eldrad fail to deal any damage. The tarpit continues, with the Guardians and the Oblits hitting each other ineffectively.
I bleed a Wraithguard and a Fire Dragon to morale. IronImmortal has failed to kill any units, but holds his home objective, earning a point.
Bottom of Turn 3 (Ulthwé)With the D-Cannons free to fire, and the second Oblit down to 1 wound, I have my Guardians Fall Back from assault. The remaining Fire Dragon and 2 Wraithguard angle for shots on the Forgefiend, while my Dire Avengers, Protect Warlock, and Eldrad move toward the Obliterators. The Quicken Warlock stays in the back. I position the Wave Serpent so it can charge the two Havoc squads for sure this turn. The Warp Spiders jump onto IronImmortal’s objective.
Eldrad rolls high on Smite and crushes the Chaos Lord, and polishes off an Obliterator and drops the remaining one to a sole remaining wound with Executioner. The Quicken Warlock moves the rear Dire Avenger unit up, and the Protect Warlock casts Jinx on the lone Obliterator. As I line up my ducks to take down this lone oblit and finish off the Forgefiend, I can’t help but think I have this in the bag.
All the Dire Avengers completely whiff on the lone, 1-wound obliterator, either failing to hit, or failing to wound, or he makes the save. The shooting I send the Berzerkers’ way clears them out. The Protect/Jinx Warlock, who in retrospect should have mega-obviously used his smite on the 1-wound Oblit instead of Jinxing it, misses with his pistol. The D-Cannons all miss or fail to wound, or the Oblit makes its very weak Invulnerable save. The Wraithguard and Fire Dragon fail to hit or wound the forgefiend.
The Warp Spiders pick off a couple tactical marines, though, and stick a charge on a tactical squad.
However, in a spat of incredibly awful luck, my Wave Serpent takes nearly 10 wounds from Overwatch as it charges the Havocs. The Havocs then bonk it down in assault, clearing it out. In this turn, IronImmortal killed my Wave Serpent, dealing almost as much damage to me as I did to him!
Despite my poor shooting, I do score a point for holding an objective, getting at least one kill point, and a bottom-of-round point for getting more kill points than IronImmortal did this round. At this point, I am now very worried that I am going to lose. This was a really bad turn!
Top of Turn 4 (Iron Warriors):IronImmortal’s Oblit repositions and one of his Tactical Squads moves up, hugging a terrain piece. His foot Lord moves to support his Havocs. His Havocs and Forgefiend remain still.
He pours an enormous amount of firepower into my Guardians, who take a bunch of saves on the platforms but eventually are whittled down to just a few remaining models. My Wraithguard and Fire Dragon Exarch are wiped out. Lascannons lance across the board and pick off both of my D-Cannons, leaving me with no more high-strength weaponry, and no more answers for his Forgefiend or Helbrute.
His Forgefiend joins the assault against my Warp Spiders, and his Havocs and Oblit assault what remains of my Guardian Defenders. After so many turns in the tarpit with them, I suspect this Obliterator was pleased to have a chance to chew them up when they are weak and he has support.
The Warp Spiders don’t get much done in assault and are reduced to merely 3. The Guardians are wiped out entirely.
Things are not looking good for the Eldar!
Bottom of Turn 4 (Ulthwé):I move carefully this turn. One squad of Dire Avengers moves up the center, and another moves to shoot at the Oblits and Havocs that killed the Guardians last turn. All my psykers move into position, and my Warp Spiders fall back into cover.
Quicken gets the Dire Avengers into position. Shooting and Smites take down the Oblit and one Havoc squad, and deal some damage to the Chaos Lord.
The Dire Avengers assault the Chaos Lord, and little damage is done either way, as neither unit is equipped for assault.
I score a point for getting a unit kill, and a point for holding my own objective, as well as a recon point. IronImmortal scores an end-of-turn point for having more kills.
At this point, things are looking pretty grim, though I am ahead 18 to 16 on points. If I am to win, I will need to use every piece of Eldar trickery available.
I do not resign. I think victory is possible.
[note-- at this point, I hit the 20,000 character limit. This battle report is continued in the next post.]
Post Merge: December 3, 2017, 06:43:52 AM
In the future, please use the modify button. Double posting is against the forum rules, and for that reason, the system merged your posts.
[note-- this double post is made because the original post hit the 20,000 character limit. This post completes the battle report.]
Top of Turn 5 (Iron Warriors):IronImmortal’s Havocs move up, chancing the reduced accuracy on the Lascannons to get into range to shoot bolters at my Dire Avengers. His Forgefiend and Tactical Squad move toward my Dire Avengers in assault with his lord.
6 Lascannon shots, plenty of bolter shots, a frag missile, and several autocannon shots as well as an ectoplasma cannon shot all pour into my 5 Dire Avengers. One by one, they get picked off, until only the Exarch remains, but he refuses to fail saves, getting nicked by one shot but making his saves and FnPs against all the others. He stands alone with 1 wound!
The Havocs charge the Protect Warlock. The Forgefiend and Helbrute get into the fight with the Dire Avengers and also go for the Warp Spiders. After everyone piles in, it’s a real scrum.
The Warp Spiders take damage, but the Exarch lives. The Warlock makes all his saves against the Havoc squad’s punches, and the Dire Avenger Exarch passes his morale test as heroically as he passed all those invulnerable saves.
Going into my Turn 5, I have: 1 Dire Avenger Exarch, 2 Warlocks, Eldrad, 3 Dire Avengers in assault, and 1 Warp Spider Exarch in assault.
Bottom of Turn 5 (Ulthwé):My Dire Avengers fall back toward IronImmortal’s objective, as does my Warp Spider Exarch. I now have 2 units within 9 inches of his objective, to match his two, a Tactical Squad and his Forgefiend. In the Psychic Phase, judicious application of the Quicken power from the Warlock holding my home objective gets the lone Dire Avenger Exarch within 9 inches as well. My three units now outnumber his two for control of his home objective.
Smite and Executioner from Eldrad clear out the 3 Havocs assaulting the Protect Warlock.
For the end of the turn, I earn a point for killing a unit, holding an objective, and for holding both objectives. I also earn a point for killing more units in the round (as he killed none of mine on his turn) and holding more objectives at the end of round, catapulting me forward to 23 points. The risks all paid off, and the plan has succeeded. With IronImmortal at 17 points, he faces a daunting challenge.
Top of Turn 6 (Iron Warriors):IronImmortal’s Helbrute and Chaos Lord head toward his home objective, while his Forgefiend and Havocs push towards my objective. He positions his Forgefiend to shoot at Eldrad while being close to the Warlocks.
The Protect Warlock and the lone Dire Avenger Exarch fall to shooting, but the remaining units hold on. Eldrad, 3 Dire Avengers, the Quicken Warlock, and the Warp Spider Exarch yet live.
IronImmortal charges his Forgefiend into my Quicken Warlock. This way, he contests my objective. What’s more, if he kills the Quicken Warlock in assault, he will outright control it. Eager to kill my units on his objective, IronImmortal charges his chaos Lord into my Warp Spider Exarch and his helbrute into my Dire Avengers.
The Warp Spider Exarch and Dire Avengers are undamaged, but they fail to damage the Chaos Lord or Helbrute. The Quicken Warlock, however, does not fare so well: he dies to the Forgefiend, leaving it as the only unit within 9 inches of my objective. Curses!
As the top of Turn 6 comes to an end, IronImmortal has 21 points. He will pick up 2 more points: one for holding more objectives at the end of the round, and one for getting more kill points than me, bringing him to 23 points, causing a draw, unless I change something.
With so few models on the board (only Eldrad, a Warp Spider Exarch, and 3 Dire Avengers), turning this around will be hard for me.
Bottom of Turn 6 (UIthwé):I’m up 2 points. IronImmortal will gain 2 points, though. He will almost certainly earn the point for more unit kills this turn. I need to either stop him from earning the point for holding more objectives at the end of the turn, or find a way to earn another points. My secondaries that I can still score are Big Game Hunter and Headhunter. Big Game Hunter isn’t happening. Head Hunter might happen–but only if I can chew through a Chaos Lord.
His 3-man Havoc squad might yield a point for getting a Kill Point, if I can get Eldrad over there, but he won’t be in range for Smite, just Executioner. If Executioner goes off, it will kill the squad in 8 out of 9 circumstances. But Executioner is not a trivial spell to cast: there is a chance of failure. That is a way to earn a point, though.
My other option is to somehow contest both objectives. IronImmortal has one unit on my objective and 2 on his own. I have 3 units. Eldrad can, if he rolls a 3 or higher on his Advance, walk around the Forgefiend and into range of my home objective, contesting it. The Warp Spider Exarch and Dire Avengers can simply fall out of combat in such a circumstance, and I will end the turn and win (as IronImmortal will only score 1 extra point at the end of round).
I see another way. My Warp Spider Exarch can Fall Back out of combat using his Warp Jump Generator, and hit my home objective. Eldrad can simply walk onto IronImmortal’s home objective without needing to advance, and the Dire Avengers can fall back out of assault. All my Warp Spider needs to do is roll well on his Warp Jump.
And he does.
—
The game ends, and I have 23 to IronImmortal’s 22. It is a close victory, but a victory nonetheless.
—
Post Game Thoughts
This was a brutal game. Many times things went back and forth. I made plenty of mistakes, particularly on Turn 3, when I chose to deal with IronImmortal’s Oblits. Since there was finally no heavy assault unit in my face, I felt more confident than I should have. I squandered my lead in that turn. Not using Smite with the Protect/Jinx Warlock was a huge mistake, too, as that would have killed the Obits. Simply leaving them Tarpitted for another turn would have also been fine.
IronImmortal, for his part, didn’t do as good a job managing his Chaos Lord as he could have, and keeping units in range. I think he also didn’t manage his charges as well as he could have. Wiping the Autarch with the Daemon Prince was fine, and ripping open the Wave Serpent with the Maulerfiend was fine, but I felt that those units could have had more impact, perhaps. Then again, maybe not.
D-Cannon Platforms were surprisingly good. Probably the nicest thing about them was that they were pretty cheap for an indirect-fire antitank gun. I was able to hide them behind that tree and fire away. Whether or not they are good probably depends on how much terrain you play with. Whenever his Lascannons had LoS on them, IronImmortal blew them away.
The Warp Spiders were big heroes this game. They picked off marines, warped around, got into assaults, tagged objectives on two crucial turns to earn victory points or save the game, and were hard to shoot or pin down in assault. I will be using them again.
Taking two Warlocks was great. Having access to more of their spells really helped.
The extra Farseer was mismanaged and died. I’ll need to test that out again.
The 20-elf Guardian Squad actually did an amazing job tarpitting those Obliterators. If I hadn’t fallen back with them at an inopportune time, or if I had killed those Oblits… well, not worth thinking about now. They did their job. Probably not worth deep-striking them against IronImmortal’s army, but i’ll keep that in my back pocket.
I think the ITC mission contributed a lot to the feel of the game as something that wasn’t purely about alpha strike, and instead about playing for objectives and trying to limit your opponent’s resources by directing firepower or assault units.
Overall this game was kind of unusual as 8e games go: We went the full length, fighting to our last scraps of units. We ended the game with Eldrad, 3 Dire Avengers, and 1 Warp Spider Exarch staring down a Forgefiend, 3 Havocs, a Helbrute, and a Chaos Lord, out of the 2,000 point armies we had to start. At the end, working with so few units, I kept thinking back to the mistakes and the units I’d lost earlier, and how much I’d like to have them.
We both had good luck and bad luck over the course of the game. I whiffed everything on that Oblit, but my Dire Avenger and Warlocks made good saves. IronImmortal’s Warptime was Denied every time by Eldrad, but he dealt 10 wounds to a Wave Serpent on overwatch with Lascannons. WH40k is a dice game, and I think we both had all kinds of luck to deal with this game.
And in the end: it came down a dice roll, the Warp Spider racing for the home objective.
