Space Marines: Turn 1 and 2First of all, the droppod thundered down from the sky, just barely missing the windmill, and hit the ground, blowing its hatches. Everything else simply moved forward as far as possible, and my opponent extended his line over the entire left half of the board, while the droppod had landed to the right. In the second turn, he landed a single unit of terminators there as well, enforcing the village’s defenses. Also, he moved both the droppod’s passengers and the terminators into cover. Finally, every single tank popped its smoke launchers, and both the bike and the land speeder moved fast enough to get a cover save.
Eldar: Turn 2I didn’t really know what to do at this point. There weren’t really any weak points in my opponent’s line, although the village was probably the way to go. I decided to roll for my reserves first. I had eight units, and received three. Not bad, but the units I got where in fact the ones I could’ve used a little later, namely both vyper units and the falcon, containing the banshees and the second farseer. This made the choice even more difficult. I had only a few choices. Fly up the far right, and engage the terminators. Despite their cover saves, the vypers had the potential to wipe the unit. But that would bring me within range of the tactical squad and, more particularly, the librarian. The librarian itself wasn’t such a problem, since he had been toned down a lot since the last codex, but his psychic hood could be a real problem. I could try to wipe him, and his squad of marines with him, but they had cover, so there was no way the vypers could do it by themselves, and I had to move the falcon on the board first, so I wouldn’t be able to assault with the banshees yet. Another option was to fly straight up the middle. I quickly dismissed that thought. It would mean moving over the hill, and then I’d have to roll seven dangerous terrain test, which I didn’t feel like. Also, it would bring me in range of the entire enemy army, which is about the worst thing you can do with a fragile army like the eldar. The last option was to arrive on the left, and try to break the left flank. It had the attack bike and the land speeder right near the edge, and the dreadnought, two rhinos and the assault squad would be able to reach any units there within two or three turns, but I decided to do so anyway. I could deal with the attack bike, and the other two units could pop the nearby rhinos, which would buy me some time.
The game was on, and I started rolling dice. The falcon immediately dispatched the dangerous attack bike, fearing the deadly multi-melta. The first vyper squad tried to shoot one of the rhinos and scored two penetrating hits, but my opponent made both cover saves. That would mean one of the tactical squads would definitely reach my lines, and I decided to accept that fact. I fired the other squad of vypers on the vindicator’s side instead, and wrecked the siege tank with a single clean hit.
Space Marines: Turn 3I knew I was in trouble. The enemy would rapidly converge on my units, and I was fairly certain both of my vyper squads would be annihilated. First though, the second unit of terminators arrived. My opponent played a smart game, and realized he didn’t need them to the left. Then, he realized that if he converged most of his units on the left, the right side would be dangerously exposed, and my other reserves would walk all over it. Therefore, he placed the terminators near the central objective, next to the wrecked vindicator. They scattered a few inches north, bringing them right in front of the third rhino, which was capturing the objective.
Then, the attack commenced. Both other rhinos moved in, and deployed their cargo facing my vyper squads. Finally, the land speeder flew over them, and lined up next to the vypers for a good heavy flamer shot.
More to the back, he moved the dreadnought and the assault squad towards my units as well, all the while keeping the predators near the center, with lines of sight to nearly the entire board.
Then, the first tactical squad shot one of my vyper squads. The massive amount of shots, combined with the wave of fire from the land speeder wrecked two vypers, and destroyed the last one’s starcannon. The second tactical squad tried the same to my other vyper squad, and wrecked two vypers as well, though the third remained unharmed. Finally, both predators fired at the falcon, and it ended up shaken and with a disabled pulse laser.
Eldar: Turn 3Damn. That hurt, although not as hard as I had expected. I rolled for reserves, desperate to get some units on the board and, especially, my jetbikes. Unfortunately, my bikers didn’t show up, and neither did the pathfinders. Both wave serpents and the fire prism however arrived, and I was eager to place them on the board. I decided to reinforce my other units, and continue the push into the left flank. The howling banshees and their farseer jumped out of the falcon and moved and ran towards the enemy. Although my opponent had done some serious damage to my vypers, he had also come within charge range of the infamous marine-slaughtering ladies. The Falcon then moved north flat out. One of the wave serpents moved flat out behind it, while the other came up where the falcon had been and deployed the dire avengers inside it. Finally, the fire prism moved up as well, and secured a clear firing line to the second squad of tactical marines, which were nicely lined up next to their transport. A focused blast later, only three out of ten marines remained.
The vyper that hadn’t taken any damage moved to the left, and fired sideways at the tree remaining marines, and killed the sergeant, taking the power weapon out of the fight. The other one moved in between the two rhino’s, and tried to shoot one, but failed. The wave serpent then fired at the dreadnought, but failed to do any damage. The dire avengers fired a normal burst of firepower into the land speeder. I knew it wouldn’t be enough to destroy it, but I would need my shooting in the next turn, and all I needed to do was shake the little skimmer, which is exactly what I did. Finally, the howling banshees and the farseer charged into the other tactical squad, but only managed to kill 4, despite the doom psychic power. Two banshees were cut down in return. My opponent decided to try and flee, but I stopped him, although he made his two no retreat-saves.
Finally, both the falcon and the second wave serpent kicked their star engines, and reached cover behind the Wraithbone structure, my opponent’s initial base.
Space Marines: Turn 4Well, that was nice. Although my opponent’s initial blow had been hard, my counter-push had just crippled two tactical squads. Not bad. My opponent realized he’d have to do something about my advance, and started his turn. The dreadnought moved closer towards the combat between the banshees and the tactical marines, but was still out of assault range, and fired its multi-melta at my fire prism. It scored a penetrating hit, and rolled a double six for damage, exploding my tank in a spectacular fashion. It seemed his luck hadn’t ran out just yet. He moved the unit of terminators near the center towards the left a bit, onto the hill, while the assault squad jumped towards my vyper behind the Webway gate.
They fired their pistols, and immobilized the skimmer. My opponent decided not to charge them in, so we turned to the close combat nearby. My banshees did much better this time, and killed an impressive 5 marines, taking only a single casualty in return. Only the marine sergeant remained, but his nerve broke, and he tried to run. I rolled badly for sweeping advance, and he ran away 4 inches, while I consolidated 6.
Eldar: Turn 4Okay. Let’s assess the situation here. It was turn 4, so I’d have to start thinking about objectives. What did my opponent have nearby? Two rhinos, two crippled tactical squad, a dreadnought and a massive assault squad. I figured I could ignore the rhinos for a while, just like the tactical. The dreadnought would have to be dealt with, though. Of course, the main priority at this point was the assault squad, since it could kill pretty much anything I had from that position. I rolled for reserves, and was granted my jetbike squad, while the pathfinders still didn’t arrive. I moved the vyper from between the rhinos into cover from the Webway gate, while the dire avengers nearby moved forward a bit, securing a line of sight to the assault squad. My jetbike squad then flew in right between all those units, also getting a line of sight for about half of its models to the assault squad (which is where I had smartly placed my shuriken cannons).
More to the north, I turned the falcon towards the assault squad, and let the nearby wave serpent drop its cargo between 12 and 18 inches of the assault squad(I didn’t measure, but I’m getting really good at guessing these things).
The footslogging farseer left the squad of banshees and engaged the dreadnought, but before it did so, it guided the nearby avengers, and doomed the assault squad. Then, the jetbikes and both units of avengers opened up on the assault squad, though only the one to the north used bladestorm. Their combined firepower caused about fifty saves, and not a single model remained, not even the holy chaplain.
Encouraged by the shooting nearby, the falcon fired at the land speeder in front of it, and the light skimmer exploded. The farseer then charged the dreadnought. Swinging faster than the behemoth with her witchblade, she caused two penetrating hits and… stunned it. Angry at being stabbed by a girl, the dreadnought hit back, and caused a single wound, but I made my invulnerable save. Then, the banshees simply assaulted the nearby rhino, and the exarch wrecked it with her executioner. Finally, my jetbikes used their assault move to move a little closer to the Webway gate, ensuring they’d get over it in the next turn, and be close enough to take the objectives behind it.
Space marines: Turn 5Things had turned around now, and my opponent realized that fully. Although I still didn’t control any objectives, he knew he’d lost the first one, starting from the left of the board. The second one was still within range, so that was still possible. My opponent still had his third rhino, containing a full tactical squad, on the third objective, and his scouts were close enough to move, run and capture the fourth in the village. Two or three to one seemed good enough for him, and he started his potentially last turn. The terminators moved a little further up the hill, followed by the librarian and his tactical squad, which finally started moving, now that no more reserves would be arriving near them. More to the north, both predators turned towards my dire avengers.
In the countryside village, the second squad of terminators broke from cover, just like the scouts, which secured the objective in the center.
The lone marine sergeant ran further away, since he was still within six inches of my farseer and banshees. Nearby, the two other tactical marines jumped in the remaining rhino, and drove north, making a run for the objective, but not quite making it.
Then, he opened up. Both predators fired through the bushes at my unit of dire avengers, but only managed to kill two in total. The terminators on the hill did better, and fired at the dire avengers near the wave serpent. Their cyclone missile launcher scored two direct hits with the blasts, and 6 aspect warriors died, including my exarch.
Eldar: Turn 5At last, my pathfinders arrived. I rolled to see at what side, and it seemed that the dice gods favored me again, because they arrived on the right, right in the middle of the village. I moved and ran them towards the objective, but didn’t quite make it, so I charged them into the scouts. I didn’t kill any, and lost one of my own, but the pathfinders didn’t flee, and the objective was contested. Still, if there was a sixth turn, the terminators would charge in and kill them all, so I needed a backup plan to contest that objective. I decided to use the empty falcon, and flew it flat out along the northern board edge, and then kicked its star engines, ensuring that I would be within range to contest. Also, I moved the northern dire avengers back into their wave serpent, moved twelve inches, and then used the star engines to position them onto the third objective that was being held by the tactical squad in the rhino, contesting it as well.
More to the left, the jetbikes flew over the Webway gate, right onto the first objective. I aimed their firepower at the rhino that contained the two marines, but, somehow, I only managed to shake it. The howling banshees then moved up to the lone marine, preparing to charge him, while the vyper moved up near them and tried to stop the rhino as well, but failed.
In the assault phase, my jetbikes used their assault move, bringing them within capturing range of both the first and the second objective.
Nearby, the battle between the farseer and the dread continued (it had for quite a while now), but neither side managed to hurt the other, either missing or failing to wound. We actually got a detailed view of what was happening there. My farseer, agile and fast, was constantly darting around the dreadnought, disappearing and reappearing behind it, and the dreadnought couldn’t get a good hit in because it was so slow and cumbersome. However, the farseer needed to keep focusing on moving that every time she struck the behemoth in front of her, her witchblade simply bounced of off the armour plating. Anyway, the banshees nearby did better, and easily massacred the lone sergeant.
Finally, the wave serpent near the Webway gate shot the rhino containing the two marines, and immobilized it. This ended my turn. I controlled two objectives firmly, while the other two were contested. If it ended now, a major victory would’ve been mine. However, it didn’t, and my opponent started his sixth turn.