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Author Topic: The Forging of Gloriam VII: Part Three: Space Marines vs. Eldar  (Read 870 times)

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Offline Kildash

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After Lord Kalthir and his men were found dead, and the space marines discovered that their death was not by the hands of Chaos, but that they were killed by the Eldar, the Chapter Master immediatly sent a large group of space marines with heavy armour to support them into the hills, to try and hunt the Xenos down. Unfortunately, the Eldar had disappeared into the mountains, and it took the marines days to try and trace them. The aliens had vanished like ghosts, leaving not a single trace behind. Still, the Master was determined to find them, confront them with their fate, and slaughter them like they deserved.

After three days of scouring every inch of the mountains, the Eldar were still nowhere to be found, and the Marines had set up camp in an old village in a valley. The valley was isolated, and the village was apparently a long-forgotten farm. For the first time in days, the Marines got some rest, and had some time to relax. Among them was Sergeant Crallis and his squad, who were ordered to patrol the farm.

Crallis and his two best men, Vladex and Arthir were seperated from their squad. Suddenly, Arthir turned towards his sergeant and spoke

"Sergeant, could you remind me why we are still here?"

"Do not ask such questions Arthir, you know the Eldar must be punished for their deeds."

"Yes, you and I both know that they disappeared, and we won't be able to find them."

Vladex interfered

"Exactly, it is impossible to find the Eldar, except if they want us to."

"I know, brothers, but our Master has ordered us to find them, so find them we will."

"Yes sergeant. It will be done, although I do not feel comfortable in this place."

again, Vladex reacted and enforced his comrades' words

"Neither do I. The Xenos could be hiding in that bush over there right now and preparing to blow our brains out like they did to Lord Kalthir!"

from the other side of the farm, sergeant Crallis and his companions suddenly heard a marine shouting

"THERE! ON THE HILL! TO ARMS!"

The three space marines ran from behind a building to see what was going on.

"I think we found them sir!"

"On the contrary brother, it is like you said. The Eldar found us."

"I guess they're out of sniper ammo huh!"

Arthir was smacked against the back of his head by his sergeant, and then rallied by the leading Captain to engage the Xenos.


-------------------------------------

And so starts the third part, with the Angels of Dawn and Craftworld Ra'Nuad meeting each other in combat for the first time in a bloody search and destroy match, were the objective was simply to destroy the enemy while staying alive. The battle was played on a smaller battlefield than normal, which was 36 to 48 inches, and we deployed on the long table edges. Each deployment zone was 12 inches of the edge, with only 12 inches in no man's land. We both knew this would mean that assaulty units like harlequins could get a first turn charge off, but we both agreed that first turn charges were forbidden.

Forces

My opponents' space marine army consisted off:

-Master with power weapon and artificer armour
-9 command marines with 2 flamers and a sergeant with PF
-Rhino with Smoke launchers
-5 Tactical marines with heavy bolter, plasmagun and PF
-5 Tactical marines with heavy bolter, plasmagun and PF
-5 Tactical marines with heavy bolter, plasmagun and PF
-5 Tactical marines with heavy bolter, plasmagun and PF
-Land Speeder Tornado with Assault cannon and heavy bolter
-Land Speeder Tornado with Assault cannon and heavy bolter
-Predator annihalator with heavy bolter sponsons
-Predator annihalator with heavy bolter sponsons
-Predator annihalator with heavy bolter sponsons

For my first Eldar battle, I simply made a list consisting of all models in my possesion:

-Farseer with doom, guide, spirit stones and singing spear
-9 Dire Avengers and an exarch with bladestorm and dual catapults
-Wave Serpent with Twin-bright lances and spirit stones
-9 Dire Avengers and an exarch with bladestorm and dual catapults
-Wave Serpent with Twin-bright lances and spirit stones
-5 Harlequins and a Troupe Master with power weapon
-4 Warp spiders and an exarch with surprise assault, powerblades and dual deathspinners
-War Walker with two Scatter Lasers
-Vyper with Scatter laser and Shuriken cannon
-Vyper with Scatter laser and Shuriken cannon
-Falcon with holo-fields, spirit stones, scatter laser and shuriken cannon

Terrain and Deployment

I've tried to make a drawing of the battlefield after deployment was done. Please be gentle and don't die because it's ugly, thank you... The Warp Spiders went in strategic reserve, the Dire Avengers in the Wave Serpents, and the Harlequins in the Falcon. Ow, and I also forgot to Scout my War Walker.



Eldar: Turn 1

I immediatly started my movement phase by zooming forward with almost everything I had, starting with the Falcon, which flew 12 inches and stopped right in front of the rhino. The Wave Serpent that started next to the Falcon crossed it, and stopped in front of the hill, turning sideways and dropping it's cargo off dire avengers. The War Walker stumbled forward a few inches, reaching the edge of the forest, but staying inside it and thus claiming a nice obscured status... The Farseer guided it, and then doomed one of the squads in the northeastern building. My unlucky rolling didn't end, and by using Doom, I rolled a double 1 for my psychic test, and although the power succeeded, my farseer's brain was fried by Warp creatures, killing him instantly. The Wave Serpent flew 24 inches, and ended it's move near the northeastern corner, and turned it's back armor against the eastern edge. Both Vypers moved a little bit, ensuring their skimmer moving fast status, but keeping them out of line of sight from most enemy forces, just giving them a nice view on the doomed squad in the building. My shooting phase started quite nicely with the pulse laser from the falcon penetrating the rhino twice, but my luck ended quite fast when i only managed to stun the rhino and blow it's storm bolter off, although that forced the passengers to disembark, they weren't pinned, the rest of the Falcons' weaponry glanced the transport, and again only stunned it. Then, combined fire from my Dire Avengers and their Wave Serpent only killed 2 space marines on the hill. Luckily, my opponent rolled 11 for his leadership test, and the tactical squad ran away 12 inches, straight of the edge. The Vypers to the right only killed one marine from the doomed squad. The War walker tried to give the Vypers a hand, and caused another casualty. And so, my first turn ended, and I had already caused more damage to myself than I had done to my enemy.

Space marines: Turn 1

Amused, my opponent started his own first turn. My opponent's plan to move the rhino and then fire his predator hadn't worked, because he didn't have the points to give his rhino extra armour, meaning it simply couldn't move. The Land Speeder behind the eastern building went face to face with one of the vypers, keeping the forest between itself and the second vyper. The other Speeder came from behind the middle building and engaged the front of the Wave Serpent, hoping for a lucky rending shot with its assault cannon. The Command squad moved in front of the rhino, aiming it's plasmaguns at the Falcon to get rid of the dangerous Harlequins inside. This didn't turn out as planned though, the Falcon was only shaken, and one of the plasmagunners died due to his overheating plasmagun. The Vyper to the right was destroyed by a lucky glancing hit from the Land Speeders' heavy bolter, and the second one was shaken by the heavy bolter in the northeastern building The 2 other Predators fired at the War Walker, and my oppenent hit three times with 2 lascannons and 4 heavy bolters. Then, he rolled 1,1,1 for armour penetration, and thus only managed to imobilize the Walker and blow one of it's scatter lasers of. Also, the Tactical squad in the central building killed 2 Dire Avengers, but the remaining ones easily made their break test. Lastly, the Speeder that attacked my Wave Serpent didn't get lucky, so my Wave Serpent remained unharmed.

Eldar: Turn 2

Very annoyed, I rolled for reserves, and my prayers were answered. My Warp Spiders deep striked right between the forest and the Land Speeder. Before moving my falcon, my Harlequins disembarked and moved six inches towards the command squad. Then, the grav-tank moved 12 inches back to it's initial position, it's crew still recovering from being shaken about 3 times. The Wave Serpent near the hill moved to the right of the central predator, exposing it's rear armour the the eastern one, which I hoped to destroy with my other Wave Serpent, which moved to that one's right, and then deployed the Dire Avengers behind it. The other squad of Dire Avengers moved up right behind the Land Speeder in the center of the battlefield. The remaining vyper flew behind the woods, hurling for cover from massed heavy bolter fire. The War Walker was immobilized, and thus remained in it's position. In the shooting phase, the Harlequins were able to kill one of the command marines with their shuriken pistols, but of course the remaining ones remained standing. The War Walker killed the plasmagunner from the squad that was doomed in the first turn, just before a bladestorm from the Dire Avengers killed the entire squad next to it. Another bladestorm from the second squad imobilized the Land Speeder Tornado in the middle, destroying it. The Wave Serpents both succeeded in destroying their respective predators with their bright lances, and the northeastern one even blew itself up and took another 2 marines from the central building with it. Lastly, the 4 Warp spiders were unable to glance the Land Speeder in front of them, but then their exarch caused two glancing hits, and rolled a double six on the damage table. Both land speeders were now destroyed, as was much more of my opponent's army, and my turn hadn't even ended yet. Eager to see if Harlequins could live up to their name, I started my assault phase. Before assaulting though, my Warp Spiders used their Warp Jump Generators to jump 7 inches behind the forest. The Harlequins charged, and luckily for me, my opponent had placed his Master behind some normal marines, causing him to be useless in this assault phase. Then, the Harlequins killed seven marines, which would have been eight if their would have been more models close enough to be killed. Therefore, my opponent couldn't even strike back. I won the combat, but my opponent made his break test, and I happily piled in around his Master and his two remaining bodyguards. At this point, I also remembered that my Farseer might have still been alive due to his ghosthelm, but decided not to mention it to my opponent.

Space marines: Turn 2

With luck turning in my own favor in my second turn, my opponent was getting a little bit demoralized. Still, he started his turn by aggresively moving his rhino over the Predator wreckage behind the hill. Well, trying to, because he immobilized himself in the atempt. The Predator moved onto the hill, since it couldn't see anything anyway. Both tactical squads realized they could never win the firefight with the Dire Avengers, so they started moving towards them, deciding to try and wipe them out in combat. The Predator killed 4 Dire Avengers, and the Sergeants from the tactical squads took some potshots at their targets, but didn't cause any casualties. Then, both tactical squads charged in, only to be killed by massed high initiative attacks from the Dire Avengers. Leaving only the Predator, an imobilized rhino and the command squad standing. The Master was slaughtered by the 2 Harlequins and their Troupe Master, and the remaining two marines were easily cut down by the other two harlequins. They consolidated towards the hill, preparing to see if their rending weapons would prove to be equally effective against the enemy Predator.

Eldar: Turn 3

The battle was pretty much over by now, but we decided to keep playing and see if I would be able to finish it this turn. Eager to prove I easily could, Everything moved towards the two enemy vehicles. The Predator soon found itself surrounded by enemies, with the Harlequins behind it, The Falcon the the west and a Wave Serpent the the east. The Rhino was attacked by the Second Wave Serpent. Everything else couldn't harm the vehicles, so I didn't even bother to move them. The Rhino was easily blown to pieces by the Wave Serpent, but the Predator proved to be more lucky when every single shot that came towards it, including a twin-linked bright lance and a pulse laser didn't even glance it's armor. Luckily for me, the Harlequins assaulted the back armor of the tank and caused as many as 6 penetrating hits, rolling 2,3,5,5,5,6 the tank was destroyed, and although it exploded 6 inches, none of my models were harmed.

Result: Victory for the Eldar

Aftermath

Wow, this battle sure took a twist after the first turn, and the battle was pretty much over after my second turn, were my coordinated Eldar strike destroyed most of my opponent's forces, leaving him with almost nothing to strike back. This battle went quite well if you consider this was the first time i've played with my Eldar army. I expected it to go quite badly, mostly due to the smaller board. Of course, this ensured I could reach almost everything on the board, but it also left me with almost no other option than to simply fly into the enemies guns, which could've also ended much worse than it did today. I also like the completely different feel of the Eldar army, and I think my opponent made a wrong guess by taking so few antitank guns. As for the man of the match award, I think all of my units performed as they were supposed to, except for the unlucky farseer, but especially the Harlequins performed above my expectations (which were already quite high).

(Wo)men of the match: Eldar Harlequins

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Space marines were defeated. The Xenos had taken victory at the farm, and none had survived the Xenos' fury. None except for sergeant Crallis. The sergeant was badly wounded, his right arm broken, the other simply gone, and deep cuts in his chest. Still, Crallis refused to die. He was fighting for his life, when one of the Xenos stepped up to him.

"I am Khatri'San. High Farseer of the Eldar of Ra'Nuad."

Unable to do as much as simply stand up or reach for his weapon, the Veteran Sergeant was forced to listen to the Xeno's words.

"Today we have shown you that you are no match for us. We have beaten you and will do so again if necessesary. We do not wish to harm you, and although you are simply a bug that could be easily squashed, we respect you. We have shown this by fighting you face to face, unlike our approach with the so-called Imperial Guard. Your wounds will heal, and you will return to your master. You will tell him to stay out of our way. We are not on the planet with the intent to harm anyone that does not deserve to be. Rest, marine, you are in something much bigger than you can possibly imagine."
« Last Edit: June 28, 2008, 02:06:42 PM by Kildash »
In darkness, a blind man is the best guide. In an age of madness, you should let a madman guide you.

Armies:
Iron Wolves: W/D/L - 0/0/0
Eldar of Idharae: W/D/L - 23/7/6

Last game: Idharae+Eldar vs Tau+Imperial Guard
Result: Win
List of my battle reports: http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=177565.0

Offline Kildash

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Re: The Forging of Gloriam VII: Part Three: Space Marines vs. Eldar
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2008, 03:21:39 AM »
and again, my post has passed by unnoticed...  ;D
In darkness, a blind man is the best guide. In an age of madness, you should let a madman guide you.

Armies:
Iron Wolves: W/D/L - 0/0/0
Eldar of Idharae: W/D/L - 23/7/6

Last game: Idharae+Eldar vs Tau+Imperial Guard
Result: Win
List of my battle reports: http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=177565.0

Offline Darkwing

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Re: The Forging of Gloriam VII: Part Three: Space Marines vs. Eldar
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2008, 11:49:11 AM »
Good report.  Your map is just fine--any kind of map is good to give the readers an idea of the lay of the land.  I would just add more if you can!  The more maps and or pictures you can add, the better to help the readers follow along.

I do have to say, that fighting a battle with maybe ~1400pts a side on a 3' x 4' table is like a spearfight in a phone booth!  You mitigated that a little bit by forbidding first turn charging, but still, a table that small leaves practically no room for maneuver!

Perhaps next time your opponent will survive a little longer!
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Offline Kildash

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Re: The Forging of Gloriam VII: Part Three: Space Marines vs. Eldar
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2008, 12:22:57 PM »
thanks, I'll do my best to include more maps, but I noticed that if there are maps for every player turn, people just look at the maps and ignore the text, which is not the objective here...

I know about the size, but we really didn't have any other alternatives...  i'll fix it next time...
In darkness, a blind man is the best guide. In an age of madness, you should let a madman guide you.

Armies:
Iron Wolves: W/D/L - 0/0/0
Eldar of Idharae: W/D/L - 23/7/6

Last game: Idharae+Eldar vs Tau+Imperial Guard
Result: Win
List of my battle reports: http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=177565.0

Offline Lode

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Re: The Forging of Gloriam VII: Part Three: Space Marines vs. Eldar
« Reply #4 on: July 5, 2008, 05:55:41 AM »
hey there!

Just want to chime in and say... to not take it personal if no one answered in the first day or two :)  I know it's awkward to take time to write something up and see no one is saying anything, but hat only might mean that it's a good enjoyable read and that no one has anything bad to say about it ;)  Also, not everyone reads the forums every day, let alone the Battle Reports section, so...   my point is, just because there's no reply yet doesn't mean it's getting unnoticed :)

Now, first of, thanks for the deployment pic!  You know, it does it's job well, you don't necessarily have to make one for each turn if you don't want, since your turn's description are pretty lengthy already :)

I know I've had to play on smaller than usual tables, but we always kept the 24" zone in-between the deployment zones.  That means we only had 6" to deploy in, but so be it :)

I notice a certain lack of terrain in the middle, too...  was it on purpose?

And, I like at the end that it's the Farseer that gets to step on the Marine...  isn't it the same Farseer that got his brain blown up on Turn 1? :D  ... maybe the ghosthelm Did save him, after all ;)

Offline Kildash

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Re: The Forging of Gloriam VII: Part Three: Space Marines vs. Eldar
« Reply #5 on: July 5, 2008, 07:27:21 AM »
yeah, we forgot about the ghosthelm, so I simply decided to use him in my fluff anyway...

the lack of terrain in the middle was on purpose because:

-it would be to crowded, and no firing lanes would remain
-I simply didn't have acces to more terrain at the time...

In darkness, a blind man is the best guide. In an age of madness, you should let a madman guide you.

Armies:
Iron Wolves: W/D/L - 0/0/0
Eldar of Idharae: W/D/L - 23/7/6

Last game: Idharae+Eldar vs Tau+Imperial Guard
Result: Win
List of my battle reports: http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=177565.0

Offline NewHeretic

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Re: The Forging of Gloriam VII: Part Three: Space Marines vs. Eldar
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2008, 11:23:55 PM »
It was an enjoyable report to read.  Thanks for posting it.  More pictures are always nice, though.

When I read the army lists, I thought the Marines were going to eat you alive since his force seemed to be built specifically to kill Eldar, so it was surprising to me to see how fast you destroyed him.  He had some bad luck with that stunned Rhino blocking his Predator, but I don't remember you saying that he made much use of all of the Heavy Bolter and Bolter fire-power that he should have aimed at your infantry units.  Nor, did he ever make use of the two Flamers in his Command Squad.  I think that you won mostly because your tactics were sound while his were lacking.

Congratulations to you for a win you deserved.  :)

NewHeretic
Good advice from Joshua:

Choose you this day
Whom you will serve...
As for me and my house,
We will serve the Lord.

NewHeretic, forum policeman.

 


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