1500 Imperial Fists Vs Eldar (Ulthwe Theme)Venerable Brother Hektor's heavy armored bulk filled up one whole side of the ruined diner. One of his titanic, hoof-like hydraulic feet had planted itself on a half-flattened jukebox that occasionally spurted out snippets of music. If the Dreadnought heard, he didn't seem to notice. Hunkered down behind overturned tables and piles of reinforced sandbags, Tactical Squad Delphos peered across the runined expanse of asphault and rubble towards the hollow corpses of hab blocks in which the xenos could occasionally be seen darting from shadow to shadow.
"I don't get it." Brother Kronos grumbled. "Aren't Eldar supposed to hate chaos? Why are they slowing us up like this?"
"Who knows why xenos do anything." Brother Ikthos snorted and calibrated the sights on his bolter before taking a pot-shot at one of the xeno specters lurking in the ruins. "Damn...missed."
Hektor's vox units rumbled to life. "This is a diversionary force. The main Eldar thrust will be in the west. They hate to take the battle directly to us. No stomach for it."
Kronos shook his head. "Yes, thank you Hektor. That's the fifth time you've said that."
"That's Sergeant Hektor, boy." Hektor thundered. "I'll report you to Captain Tolochus if you keep up that lip."
Kronos sighed. "Tolochus is dead."
Hektor swiveled his torso, knocking over a number of things lined up on the old counter of the diner. "Dead! When?"
Kronos didn't answer and, instead, muttered under his breath. "Three hundred years ago."
Ikthos shook his head. "Leave old Hektor alone, huh? He's saved our arses more than once, remember."
Kronos nodded, but didn't say anything.
Silence fell over the fortified diner for a few moments until, at last, Hektor announced. "This is a diversionary force. The main Eldar thrust will be in the west. They hate to take the battle directly to us. No stomach for it."
"If those Eldar don't come soon," Kronos growled, "I vote we turn off his vox."So, after months of drought, I had a last minute opening in my schedule to get a game of 40K in. Fortunately, my usual Eldar opponent (Fraley) was around, and we cobbled up a pair of 1500 point lists to crash into each other.
Imperial Fists Urban Assault ElementHQLysander
Codicer Librarian w/Avenger, Gate of Infinity, bolt pistol, force weapon
Elites5 Terminators w/Heavy Flamer
Venerable Hektor, Venerable Dread w/Multimelta, Hvy Flamer, Extra Armor
TroopsTactical Squad Attica (Flamer, Missile Launcher)
in Rhino (Dozer Blade)
Tactical Squad Delphos (Flamer, Missile Launcher)
in Rhino (Dozer Blade)
Heavy SupportThe Bastion of Terra: Land Raider Crusader w/Multimelta
Vindicator w/Siege Shield
Ulthwe Strike ForceHQEldrad
Avatar
Elites8 Striking Scorpions w/Exarch (Claw, Move through Cover, Infiltrate)
in Wave Serpent (TL Shuricannons, Spirit Stones)
6 Fire Dragons
Troops10 Guardians w/Starcannon
10 Guardians w/Starcannon
10 Guardians w/Starcannon
10 Guardians w/Starcannon
Heavy SupportFalcon w/EML, Holofield, Spirit Stones
Wraithlord w/EML, Brightlance
Terrain and DeploymentWe rolled for mission and deployment and wound up with Secure and Control and Pitched Battle. At this roll, my opponent grunted and said 'so, a draw then.' We chuckled about this (every time we've played this mission, we've drawn), but kept on anyway.
Terrain was mostly urban, with a building in the NW, SW, NE, and SE corner. They were all multi-story ruins except for the SE one, which was a one-floor diner. This was my objective. Fraley's was in the NW corner, and was a large, 3-floor ruin. There was a wall running north between the SW and NW ruins, a park at board center, a broken wall at the center of the south edge, and some scattered trees and ridges around.
Fraley deployed 3 of his 4 guardians squads in his objective building, one split between the top two floors, and the rest on the ground level. They huddled around the Avatar and were flanked by the Wraithlord. The final guardian squad occupied the building opposite my objective. The Falcon + Scorpions + Eldrad remained in reserve along with the Falcon + Dragons.
For my deployment, I placed Delphos in the objective (which I fortified) and placed Hektor there, as well, to help out. I opted not to combat squad in this particular mission, since it looked like I was going to be dealing with swarms of guardians and tough guys, and doubted I wanted to split my fire or risk being overrun. The Codicer accompanied Attica in their Rhino (which I'm just noticing is illegal--not enough room--ah, well, it didn't make that much of a difference) in the extreme SW, flanked to the east by the Bastion of Terra (loaded with Lysander and Termies) who parked in the building, and then by the Vindicator and the empty rhino, who also made use of the building. These would form an armored assault group intent upon contesting or claiming the enemy objective.
Eldar DeploymentDelphos and Hektor Guard the ObjectiveThe Armored Fist of the Emperor in the SWTurn 1I fail to sieze the initiative. Fraley opens the game by running the Avatar into the open ground east of his objective and moves the wraithlord out to the west to take some ineffective shots at Attica's Rhino. Elsewhere, guardian squads shuffle around in their various locations for slightly better firing postions, and starcannon fire harmlessly pings off the fortified Fist objective.
The Wraithlord Looms in the DistanceIn my half of the turn, I drove the Bastion of Terra out of the building to the west to get off some shots at the Wraithlord, and took off two wounds. Attica's Rhino, meanwhile, off-roaded through the building and emerged halfway visible to the eldar ahead (it popped smoke). To the east of the building, the vindicator moved to shell the Guardians in the building (killed 4, but they are Avatar-fearless, so they stuck), and the empty Rhino moved to cover the Vindicator's vulnerable flanks from any kind of ranged fire coming from the east. Finally, Delphos pegged the Avatar with a missile, but it made its invulnerable save.
Offroading with RhinosTurn 2Fraley rolls gangbusters for his reserves, and both Falcon and Waveserpent show up. He had been originally planning to throw at least one of them into the east flank to try and nab my objective, but my western assault was sufficiently intimidating that he felt the need to reinforce the flank. Both vehicles show up behind the Wraithlord and begin to ping shuriken and lasers harmlessly off the Attica Rhino's hide. This firepower is joined by all the starcannons in the objective and the Avatar's melta blast, and nothing much happens (I think I lost the stormbolter off the rhino, but that's it). The Wraithlord tries again to damage the Bastion of Terra, but does nothing. The armor of the Imperial Fists is too strong for puny Eldar weapons...or at least so far.
Eldar Reinforcements ArriveI begin my second turn by moving the Bastion of Terra an inch or two closer and firing at the Wraithlord to take off that one wound, but my dice fail me and it still lives. Seeing a bunch of dragon-toted meltaguns in its future, I disembark Lysander and the boys into the SW building and run them into position to intercept the Avatar as it comes closer. The empty Rhino zooms into the Avatar's path and pops smoke, to hang up any assaults and clog movement, while Attica's Rhino tries to move out of the building and promptly gets stuck, even with the dozer blade (1/36 odds. Sheesh.). I opt to keep Attica inside, though, since hopping out would mean being tackled by an Avatar or moving back down the field into a less aggressive position. The Vindicator keeps angling for good shots, and takes one at a clump of guardians who decided to climb out of the building, but terrible to-wound rolls only mean 2 die.
In the SE, my insurance policy named 'Hektor' has no reason to insure the survival of Delphos anymore (seeing how the scary eldar transports were far, far away), so he hops out of the building and begins to slowly run towards the action. Finally, Delphos pings another missile off the avatar's head, and again it makes its invulnerable save (grrr...).
Hang on, folks--Hektor's a-comin'!Turn 3The Waveserpent jets to the other side of the eldar objective, facing my armored advance. The Avatar, angry at the empty rhino in its way, meltas and assaults the vehicle, but only manages to scratch the paint (Shaken). Then a barrage of falcon fire and 3 enemy starcannons glance Attica's rhino to death. Finally, the Wraithlord takes aim at the Bastion of Terra and wrecks it with a key brightlance hit (bummer...my rhinos are more durable than my Land Raider!). Then, off in the east, the lone guardian squad continues to do absolutely nothing to the fortified squad Delphos.
The Avatar whiffsIn my turn, it is now or never. I have the Terminators + Lysander in position to take down the Avatar, Attica + Librarian are in position to assault the guardians in the objective, and the Vindicator is ready to blow the last wound off the wraithlord. If all of that happens, we are going gangbusters. I don't necessarily *trust* the Vindicator, though, so I try first to Gate Attica into a better position away from the wraithlord. Eldrad's Runes of Warding, though, give the libby a severe headache, so they go for the charge instead. This works just fine--it wipes out the bottom squad of guardians in the building. Unfortunately, the Vindicator misses its target *entirely* (and Delphos's krak missile fails to wound), meaning my poor tac marines are going to get a Wraithlord in the face next turn. Then comes the Lysander + Termie charge. The Avatar kills 3 Terminators, but I force 4-5 saves in return. He makes *every single invulnerable save*. For those of you keeping score, that's 6-7 invulnerables passed so far, and not a wound taken. This is very bad.
The empty Rhino speeds to try and block the exit to the waveserpent (but only gets partially there), and Hektor keeps running to bring the reinforcements, but the Emperor's Finest are going to be on their own for a while yet, and surrounded on all sides by trouble. Good thing for stubborn!
Le Grande AssaultAttica prepares to be kicked in the face by a giant dead guy.The Avatar lives up to its war-god reputationTurn 4Well, so much for my plan to sieze the enemy objective! The Wraithlord charges into Attica and, while it doesn't kill anybody, it keeps them from wiping out the rest of the guardians for the time being. The Scorpions and Eldrad pop out of the serpent and charge into the battle with Lysander and the Avatar, killing both of the remaining regular termies, but Lysander soldiers on, inflicting another 3 wounding hits on the Avatar. The Avatar then, in blatant defiance of all laws of probability, makes all 3 invulnerable saves (just not my day, is it?). Various Starcannons fire at the empty Rhino, but do nothing. The Falcon, though, does a bit better by knocking off the demolisher cannon on the Vindicator. The Wave Serpent, its cargo delivered, zooms past the Vindicator to the south. In the east, the lone guardian squad advance to the edge of the NE building, though Delphos remains unimpressed.
Attica plays Ring Around the WraithlordThe Scorpions + Eldrad stab some termies in the backTrying to prolong Attica's survival and to escape the impending Scorpion assault, should Lysander be overwhelmed, I try Gate of Infinity to pop me out of combat. Again, Eldrad proves too much for the librarian, and his head promptly explodes. So much for that--Attica has one more of its number punted into orbit, and they sit tight, stubbornly refusing to run. The empty Rhino crashes through the bottom floor of the Eldar objective, contesting it, and sits tight. The Vindicator then spins in place and rams the rear of the Waveserpent, destroying it (one lucky vehicle kill deserves another, I suppose). Hektor (who has been running very slowly), takes a position behind a tree. Finally, in a heap of close combat attacks, Lysander is gradually dragged to the ground, though it took until the very last exarch claw attack to nail him (I wasn't rolling gangbusters on his invulnerable, either). It is occuring to me now that I didn't get the chance to attack (he lived until his initiative phase), but whatever. Stupid Avatar had made 10 invulnerable saves so far--no reason it wouldn't make another 2-3. I suppose I could have crushed some scorpions, though.
Bulldozer beats hovercraft. Odd, eh?The Stupid Avatar and his stupid friends stomp all over stupid Lysander and then have a stupid celebration. Grrrr...