My, the Silver Ghosts encounter Grey knights in that Rearguard Battle at 1850 pts.
Eldar played Defender so I had only half of my force on the board, Mission demanding that I had only one scoring unit left at the end to win the day.
I split my army in half, putting all things mechanised/fast in one slot and the footslogging stuff on the other and rolled for the mechanised part to coming into play, the remaining of the force was not to be used at all.
The forces:
Eldar: 1850 Pts (The
Yellow highlight is the half that showed for the fight)
HQ: 285 pts- Yriel - 155 pts- Farseer w/Spirit Stones, Fortune & Doom - 130 pts
ELITE: 550 pts- Wraithguard X 5, Warlock w/ Destructor - 210 pts
+ Wave Serpent w/ Twin Shurican/underslug Shurican, Spirit Stone, V-Engines - 140 pts- Harlequins X 7, Shadowseer, Death Jester, Kisses X 6 - 190 pts
TROOPS: 688 pts- Dire Avengers X 10, Exarch w/ Dual Catapult & Bladestorm - 152 pts
+ Wave Serpent w/ Twin Shurican/underslug Shurican, Spirit Stone, V-Engines - 140 pts- Wraithguard X 10, Spiritseer w/ Conceal - 396 pts
HEAVY: 135 pts- Wraithlord w/EML & Scatterlaser
FAST: 192 pts- Vyper w/Scatter Laser
- Warp Spiders X 6Grey Knights: 1850 pts (approximative from memory: The
Blue highlight were what came in First Turn, the
Green highlight were first wave but kept in Deep Strike)
HQ: ? pts- Brother Captain w/Termie Armor & Psychic Hood
- Retinue: Termies X 5 w/Psycannon
ELITE: 0 pts- None
TROOPS: ? pts- GK X 8 w/Psycannon X 2- GK X 8 w/Psycannon X 2
HEAVY: 505 pts (?)- Land Raider- Land Raider Crusader
FAST: ? pts- GK X 8 w/Psycannon X 2 I deployed my force using the Hidden Setup rule, deploying both Wraithguard and Avengers in their Serpent (Yriel is put with the Wraithguard) on the left behind the only fair sized LEV 3 area terrain, the Spiders straight center behind a wall and the Vyper on the right, behind a small LEV 3 building, then putting the remaining counters in hope to simulate a pincer deployment then putting some Tank Traps and Razorwire to cut the easy access lane to both sides.
The opponent came in First Turn from table edge, revealing the hidden setup.
- TURN 1 -Grey Knights: Come in the Land Raider about straight center, disembarking a squad of GK, both shooting on a barely visible Avenger's Wave Serpent and destroying the Twin Shuricans.
Eldar: Both Serpents moved a bit to hide better from the LR, Dire Avengers remounted in their Serpent and the Spiders in the center jump to the left but are left a bit in the open after their second jump toward a LOS blocking piece of terrain.
The Vyper is well hidden and stay put.
- TURN 2 -Grey Knights: Come in the Deepstriking GK squad right on target near the Vyper, blasting the light skimmer to oblivion but effectively putting themselves out of the game so far out from the Eldar main force.
The LR and GK both advance, my opponent taking great care NOT to bring the tank inside the mounted Wraithguard move/kill zone and shoot at the visible Spiders, killing two.
Eldar: Shuffle the Serpents a bit, keeping them in hiding behind the wood, the Spiders jump behind the wood to join the Serpents.
- TURN 3 -Grey Knights: With absolutely no target available, the GK mount the LR who move 12'' and use it's Smoke Launchers. The 8 Deepstriking GK on the extreme right moves left.
Eldar: With the remaining GK force coming in TURN 4, I shuffled the Serpents to get the SMF, keeping out of sight of the Lascannon armed LR but well conscious that I was exposing one of the transport to possible incoming fire from the Grey Knights coming in next turn.
So be it.
- TURN 4 -Grey Knights: The Termies Deepstrike behind my force, scattering 7'' near the table edge, shooting the Spiders and killing three, making them flee.
The Land Raider Crusader come in 12'' and disembark it's squad, both shooting at the Avenger's Serpent, scoring three glances and destroying it, killing 5 of the Aspect Warriors in the crash
(damn psycannons). The LR also advanced and disembarked it's cargo, both shooting at two visible surviving Avengers after the Serpent's crash, killing both.
The 8 GK on the right moves left.
Eldar: The lone Spider fall back near the table edge and the newly arrived GK who so mauled his squad. Yriel dismounted the Wraithguard's Serpent and moved toward the Terminators, the skimmer then moved a bit to get the SMF (and shoot at the LRC squad, killing two Marines) and disembarked the WG to get a volley against the Termies.
The Avengers disentangle themselves from the wreck.
All my remaining force shoot at the Terminators, Wraithguard felling ONE, the Warlock nailed one with his pistol, Yriel another with his spear. Crap. Yriel charged in, killing ONE. Crap. He was then splattered by a STR 6 hit. CRAP. The Termies consolidated toward the Wraithguard.
- TURN 5 -
Grey Knights: Both LRs moved forward with their squads mounting in, the LRC scoring a glance at the Wave Serpent and destroying it.
The last elite GK Terminator led by the Brother Captain advanced and shot at the Wraithguard, destroying one and then charged in CC, flattening another two for the cost of the last Termie, leaving the Captain all alone.
The 8 GK on the left moved left.
Eldar: The last Warp Spider moved off table. The two remaining Dire Avengers led by their Exarch charged in, trying futilely to relieve the Wraithguard who got destroyed by the Brother Captain. Both the Spiritseer and Avengers held.
- TURN 6 -Grey Knights: The LRC came forward into a Booby Trap who failed to destroy it and disembarked it's squad of Grey Knights who charged the Spiritseer and quickly dispatched it while the Brother Captain disposed of two of the Aspect Warriors, the Avenger Exarch being run down by the GK squad.
Eldar: [sigh]
Hope you enjoyed it, I didn't nor my opponent. While we both beforehand agreed that I played for a victory and not for fun, hiding one's half army in hope that at least one unit would survive the game wasn't that thrilling.
With hindsight, I would have moved the Wraithguard's Serpent with it's cargo 24'' to the right to get far from the Termies in hope for them to survive the game but who could have guessed that the Terminators would succeed 3/4 of their INV saves, hey?
So, with the game having been VERY short, we played another with our full forces (with some modifications from mine) using what we knew of the 5th ed rules.
There we both had fun, playing for kill points and this time it was MY turn to get some lucky rolls.
Starky
P.S.: Now moc and Sanctjud can gloat.