Randomly Determined Mission = Seek and Destroy

Board = 6x4 feet (every inch of which was needed thanks to the number of guardsmen!)

Deployment

Seek and Destroy, yet again, I have a habit of playing this mission. Well, it meant I wasn’t going to be able to ignore all his troops, and man were there a lot of those! Anyway, the Guard chose their table side, realising that the heavy concentration of trees along one side would provide them with enough. They were first to deploy and set down the basilisk in the far right corner, well hidden by cover, giving a commanding fire arc over the battlefield. This was a problem, my original thoughts of a central / left deployment due to good cover went out of the window, I did not want to have little pieces of Eldar thrown against the terrain by that Earthshaker cannon. Instead I decided to deploy the majority of my force to the centre and right, in order to keep within the basilisks minimum range of 36". I decided to set up the Wraithlord first, right inside the building, that way his following deployments would not be able to take advantage of knowing where my first Falcon would be. The intention with the Wraithlord would be to protect the Rangers, I knew he had some deep striking units, and they carried with them Flamers, this wasn’t going to be fun. He set down Infantry platoon A on the left flank, taking advantage of the cover there. Its Command section was missing, he planned to deep strike them in. I had to set down a Falcon so I decided to keep them to the right of the building, using it to hide as much as possible but once he knew where I was going all of his anti armour units set up ready to target them, if he got first turn I would be in trouble, the two Falcons had the Anti Tank Squad, Command Section B and Squads 2b and 3b ready and waiting in positions opposite them. His HQ Command set up in support of Platoon A and next to them deployed Squad 1b in the cover of woods. His Sentinel deployed next to the Basilisk, realising that if I survived his Anti Tank shooting, then that was probably going to be my first target. Once everything was down we rolled off to see who would set up Infiltrators first. He won, and set up his Ratlings in the left building. I was left to set up the Rangers within the large building, but also decided to deploy a unit out of sight of the Ratlings and ready to take some shots at the HQ Command section.

Ranger disruption, Scout move and Macharian Cross!

Right, there was a lot of stuff going on here before the game would begin. First off, it was the Scout move, which saw his Sentinel move forwards a cautiously. As we couldn’t decide which order the remaining two should occur in we decided that it would make more sense for the Ranger disruption to occur first, after all, the Macharian Cross was awarded for innovative tactical thinking, and what more innovative than pulling together forces that have been disrupted!



Now, there were a lot of possible targets for the Ranger Disruption so I was hoping to roll some good results. With luck I might be able to send some things packing or at the very least pin his Anti Tank and Missile Launcher Squads. But it was down to the dice to decide what the cheeky chaps had been getting up to. The first roll saw me being allowed free shots at one of his units. But which one? there were the heavy weapons units but they were all pretty protected by command sections so the damage would be limited. There were the Command Sections themselves, whic would be a good choice, but i could afford to leave them for a bit in favour of the Ratlings. This was an ok choice, the Ratlings were very well equipped to take out my Wraithlord and were perfectly placed for first turn shooting at it. I wanted to lower his ability, so shot at them. to my amazement i managed to get three AP1 hits on them, which caused three wounds and then three failed saves! wohoo, what a result! He decided the lone Ratling was going to play no further part and removed him from play to save the embarrasment of watching him run right across the battlefield for the remaining turns. The second roll saw squad 3b being removed from the table in a similar fashion. This opened up the right flank for me as long as the Falcons could survive long enough to take advantage of it. The remaining two rolls saw two random enemy units starting pinned, turns out Squad 2a (his mortar squad) and his HQ Command were the targets this time. Not too bad, but his Anti Tank Squad was still loose, that was not good news.  



The Commanding Officer had to put his tactical thinking into action, some of his vital units were now missing. He decided that the advance would have to go on, and directed squad 1b to move forwards out of the trees. It seemed as though they were going to try and use the central terrain to mask their advance. Clearly he was playing very aggressively, his Sentinel had taken a position ready to move and fire on a Falcon, his Anti Tank unit had taken up a commanding position and on the left and centre of the board were units that were obviously going to advance on my position. His plan seemed clear but he held the aces with his three deep striking Flamer units. Should he win the first turn he should be capable of taking down one if not both of the Falcons, that would be a decisive blow that would be hard to recover from. We rolled off, a tense moment, his dice came to rest, a two, YES! As my dice slowed it tinkered on the edge of a six, but my heart sank as it tipped that little bit too far and came to rest as a one. NOOOO!

Guard Turn 1

With a smile on his face, he moved Squads 1a and 1b forward as fast as they could go, the only other moving was the Sentinel, which lined up to get a shot on a Falcon, however, its’ Multi Laser just couldn’t find a weak spot. The Basilisk tried to open fire on the Rangers in the building but soon realised that they were just within his minimum range. Squad 1b shot off their Grenade Launcher at the Rangers in front of them, but the Rangers were well hidden. Squad 2b in the centre opened up with their Missile Launcher at the closest Falcon, but it missed its’ target. Command Section B fired at the same Falcon with its Autocannon, but it failed to cause a dent in the armour. Now came the crunch, the three Lascannons targeted the most expensive Falcon (the one with the Shuriken Cannon) scoring two hits. I closed my eyes as he rolled the dice, having not moved he would be able to score penetrating hits, and he did, but only one, the other was a glancing. Luckily though, the Holo Fields were doing their job as the gunners were confused, only managing to score a Crew Shaken and a Crew Stunned. But it had one more trick up its’ sleeve, the Spirit Stones, which saw the vehicle ignoring both results! Today, it seemed, fate was with me.

Eldar Turn 1

Phew, that was a close shave, like being slapped by an angry mother in a supermarket, I was lucky to get out alive. Now it was time for me to smile. The Falcons had to move, so the Farseers Falcon (the one with the Shuriken Catapults) moved to take on the Sentinel, using its Pulse Laser to blow it apart with ease, the second Falcon moved forwards, its Shuriken Cannon would come in handy against that Anti Tank Squad which was my prime target this turn. It opened fire with everything I had, causing 7 wounds in total. He saved two which meant that there was one guy with a Lascannon left! The rightmost Ranger unit was then tasked with finishing off the last man, firing with pin point accuracy and dropping him. With that threat out of the way I could concentrate on the next task. Firstly, I had to get rid of his Command Sections, and with Command Section B just in view and in the open the Wraithlord took its chance, having moved through the building it fired on them with its Starcannon, killing three. The Ranger unit to the Wraithlords left could just about draw a bead to the Officer with two of their number so tried their luck but failed to find the mark. The Officer was a gutsy one though, and held his ground despite losing much of his unit. The two remaining Ranger units concentrated their firepower on Squad 1b, in the open they were easy pickings for the experienced Rangers, causing four deaths and two pinning tests,. They passed the first one, but the weight of fire saw them fail the second as they hit the deck. That should slow them down a bit and buy me time to get some support there.

Imperial Guard Turn 2

Losing the Anti tank unit was a big blow, and now the Basilisk was under threat too as the Sentinel was also gone. The right flank would soon be under my control so he would either have to direct reinforcements there or try and drop the flank in to stop me sweeping everything away. First things first, he rolled his reserves. But only the infantry squad was arriving. They moved on at the centre, it seemed he was going to set up an anchor to try and stop, or at least, slow me, but they couldn’t quite make the cover. The Basilisk rolled to push through the trees in order to get shots off at the high concentration of Eldar in the building, but once again failed to do any damage thanks to the scatter. At the rear Squad 2a started shelling the nearest Ranger unit with their mortar but it was clear that they had little idea where the Rangers actually were as the shell landed wide of the mark. On the left flank Squad 1a were making great progress, they had no targets to shoot at but it seemed they were moving to a position where they could support the drop troops when they arrived. The Command Section needed to keep up with the advancing units so they decided to forsake cover in order to move as fast as possible. As they moved they fired a Krak Grenade at the nearest Ranger unit, this time hitting home and causing a casualty. The rest of the Rangers were undeterred by their loss. Squad 2b fired once again at the nearest Falcon but it seemed they had not been reciting their prayers of accuracy as the shot flew wide once more.

Eldar Turn 2

One Ranger, the sum total of the casualties thus far. Not a bad showing, but his drop troops were on their way, and I had no real way of knowing where they would come down. It seemed obvious the Rangers would be their prime target but if I disembarked the Fire Dragons then he may take advantage of that and target them instead. Either way, I had pressing matters, the Basilisk was going this turn before it got a chance to make any impact. The Farseers’ Falcon made a long move along the right flank, ready to pounce on the infantry next turn while the other one moved over the woods by the Basilisk, the Fire Dragons jumping down through the trees to fire on the side of the tank. They were a bit too far to make easy work of it but nonetheless all but one managed to hit the mark through the trees. It was outside of the wood so it would not benefit from the hull down rule but even so the Dragons scored only one penetrating hit, with two glancing hits, immobilising the Basilisk and stunning its crew. It wouldn’t be a threat next turn, so the Falcon targeted Squad 3b, who were out in the open. The flimsy Guard armour was no match for the advanced Eldar weaponry as five of the Guardsmen were cut into small, but perfectly formed, pieces of their former selves. At my centre, I decided that the Wraithlord would move out of the building, with hope, this would draw the deep striking units in behind the Rangers at which point the Wraithlord could retaliate if they didn’t then at least he was closer to the advancing infantry units. It was risky, as it would no doubt be facing a couple of missile shots but the new position would hopefully bring the HQ Command into Starcannon range, and sure enough it did, and saw two Guardsmen being picked off at long range. Still, he refused to run away! The leftmost Ranger unit was facing down the remains of Squad 1b, pulling out their shuriken pistols they stood and fired at them, killing three of them. The few left could not be targetted so I had to turn my attention elsewhere. The rightmost Ranger unit took the opportunity to target Squad 3b, killing yet another one. However, the Officer was proving himself useful once more, stopping the unit from running. Meanwhile the rearmost Ranger unit, finding no targets decided to fleet out of the building so they could provide better support.

Imperial Guard Turn 3

Right, he was taking heavy losses, but he still had more than enough to cause tremendous dents in my force, hopefully, I had done enough to force him to split his fire between several very tempting targets. First things first, he rolled for his drop troops. The worst possible scenario, they were ALL of them coming down at once.  Command Section A and one of the Flamer units dropped in behind the Rangers as predicted, the Command Section deviating slightly which would hopefully be just enough to take them out of Flamer range. The last Flamer unit dropped in by the disembarked Fire Dragons and would be close enough to target both them and get a couple of rear shots at the rear armour of the Falcon to boot. I was surrounded, a victim of my own speed. Those Flamers weren’t going to be pretty, to add further wories, the three Guardsmen of Squad 1b moved forwards and were ready to charge as they shot their Grenade Launcher. They were still unable to pick out the Rangers though. On the left flank his units were moving in for support, both of them also firing at the Rangers, but the Cameleoline cloaks were proving their worth once again. The Mortar this time fired on the Rangers out in the open, but their armour was enough to protect them. Flamer Squad one released their fire on the unit nearest the Wraithlord causing a massive six wounds on them. OUCH! Taken by surprised the Rangers were burnt to a cinder, great losses that would not go unpunished. The Command Section didn’t fair as well, luckily, only killing one Ranger of the closest unit, the others holding their ground despite the horrors about them. Flamer Squad 2 had a much bigger job to do, but their reward stood far greater should they succeed. They opened fire as they hit the ground with Flamer and Lasgun taking the Fire Dragons with surprise and engulfing the rear of the Falcon with flame. The Dragons lost two of their number in the torrent and the Falcon suffered a single glancing hit which resulted in the crew being shaken, however, the Spirit Stones took over yet again. The Missile Launcher of Squad 3b had to target the same Falcon, but the rocket ricocheted off of its sloped armour while Squad 2b targeted the Wraithlord, hitting and wounding the construct. That was a painful round of shooting, but things weren’t quite over yet. Squad 1b, well, what was left of them, charged into the Ranger unit in front of them. But they were still unsure of the Rangers actual positions which gave them the upper hand, striking out at the incoming infantry and surprisingly killing two of them before they had a chance to react. The final one just stood and flailed his arms a bit in the confusion! Once he realised he was alone he turned to run, but the Rangers were too quick for him, and knocked him out of action before he could get away. They took the opportunity of the massacre move to consolidate their position ready for the incoming flanking units, using the central terrain to limit incoming fire.

Eldar Turn 3

There was no way I could survive another turn like that. I couldn’t get distracted, I had begun attacking the static units at the centre of his deployment, and I would continue it until they were gone, I was confident that it could be done by this turn, and it really had to be so I could redirect my firepower. The Basilisk would be a threat again next turn so I had to go at it once more, the Fire Dragons disembarked from the Farseers’ Falcon, not being a dedicated transport he didn’t have to get out with them, so he rode it out as the Falcon moved around the rear of the Basilisk where he then got out. The Fire Dragons walked into the woods ready to fire on the rear armour of the Basilisk. This time there was no messing around, the Aspect Warriors made good their years of training and blew apart the crude Imperial tank. The Farseer understood the leadership power of the Officer of Command Section B, so delved deep into his mind destroying him utterly with a psychic focus of power he had never before witnessed. Seeing his commanding Officer fall, the remainign Guardsman turned and ran. The Falcon fired on Squad 3b, they had no benefit from the cover they were trying to hide by and so they were eradicated with ease, once again their armour proving useless. The other Falcon moved to a more central position so as to be able to easily move on to other targets in the following turn, it barely slowed to open fire on Squad 2b cutting down trees and men with equal disregard, as the firestorm ended the unit counted their loses, they were lucky, only three were killed thanks to the cover the woods provided. The bitter Fire Dragons turned to face their new adversaries, stepping out of the woods and killing two with their Fusion Blasters. They were much faster as they charged in too, killing off two more Guardsmen in the blink of an eye, the remaining two doubled up on one of the Dragons though, bringing him down before running like little children, once again, the speed of the Eldar paid off, as the Dragons cut down the pitiful Mon-Keigh as they ran. Rolling a one for their massacre move they decided to just hold and reflect upon their losses. The Rangers in the centre began firing on the advancing Squad 1a, killing one with a careful head shot. The unit n the open fired across the board at Squad 2b killing off one unsuspecting Guardsman as he revealed himself after the onslaught of the Falcon. That was not enough to pin the unit even with the loss of their Officer. The Wraithlord made its intentions clear as he turned around and advanced fearlessly towards the Flamer Squad returning the favour with its own Flamers not only killing all of the unit thanks to its’ tight formation, but taking with them two humans from Command Section A! Wow, two for the price of one! The last Ranger unit had moved out of the building, they were surprised to be facing a couple less Guardsmen as they fired upon the unit with their pistols, killing another one leaving just the Officer and one Guardsman with a Flamer. Despite this, they did not run so the Rangers had to charge into close combat. However, this one was far less eventful and saw absolutely no casualties from either side.

Imperial Guard Turn 4

With the chaotic effects of the drop troops absorbed, he was going to have to make his remaining units count for all their worth. We were playing, into and out of each others hands, I had tempted him to drop in behind the Rangers by moving the Wraithlord, which he then drew back to take care of those drop troops, that would now give him a bit more breathing room for his advancing units! It was an eclectic game of cat and mouse. He continued the advance of his two flanking units, the HQ Command firing a Frag Grenade back at the Ranger unit at the centre finally managing to kill the two of them as they sat in the open. Squad 2a then fired its Mortar at the other unit in the open, getting a direct hit on one a Ranger. As the dust settled, there was nothing left of him, the other were shaken and began to fall back. Squad 2b knew they were in it up to their necks, but they wouldn’t stop fighting just yet, the Falcons seemed beyond their capabilities so they fired once again at the Wraithlord causing a wound on the construct. Well, it seemed like a rather toned down shooting phase, but the casualties caused were pretty vital, he had knocked out one Ranger unit, and sent another fleeing, also, one more wound on the Wraithlord would take it under half strength gifting the Guard extra victory points. In the assault phase the Ranger and Command Section were matched like for like, each causing a single wound, they were down to one man each, a single Ranger against the Imperial Officer. But this combat would not be decided yet and would continue through to the next turn at least.

Eldar Turn 4

The fleeing Ranger unit managed to rally, seeing as they weren’t under half strength and turned to assess the scene, they could just about spot some soldiers of the advancing unit as well as the unit in the trees across the battlefield. They were the only Ranger unit left. But having moved they were unable to get any shots off with their Long Rifles, they were able to fleet back into the safety of the building though, pretty much back to where they started from, but a lot worse for wear! The Wraithlord was mumbling around, he needed to get back on track, there was no point going after the lone Officer when there was an entire HQ Section running about, so it moved to get a shot on them, yet again. Exiting the building it aimed with its Starcannon killing only one. However, the Officer panicked and the Commissar took over, executing him to prevent the Section falling back from supporting the advancing infantry squad. The Farseer, satisfied with his actions, knew it was time to get back into the Falcon before the squad in front of him would turn their attention to him! Once in, he directed the Falcon to move back to pick up the Fire Dragons in the woods which moved to meet the Falcon at its’ new location before embarking themselves. As they entered it began firing on the defiant infantry squad, managing to only kill two of them, and yet they still refused to run. The other Falcon had to get started on the advancing Guard, this would mean exposing its rear armour to the Missile Launcher of Squad 2b, but that would hopefully draw fire to it and away from the Wraithlord that was now in a vulnerable position. It was a gamble, the Falcon has proved very difficult to knock out so far but losing it at this late stage would gift the Guard with a lot of victory points. I was confident that it would pay off though. Anyway, as it reached its new position it shot at the infantry in the open, they were surprised to see the Falcon swoop over the trees and it cut through flesh with relative ease killing five of them. The rest were panicked and starting running back across the open ground, the Commissar no doubt incensed at their lack of discipline! Meanwhile the other Fire Dragons would have to walk it, I decided that they should head back just incase that pesky Officer got free of the last Ranger in combat with him so they moved as fast as they could go. As it happened there was no need, as the Ranger finally got the better of the Imperial Officer as the sour combat came to a bloody end.

Imperial Guard Turn 5

So, I had managed to regain some composure after the Imperial onslaught two turns ago and now his units were dwindling. Squad 1a continued their running, but this time slower, which gave them just enough of a glimpse of the Wraithlord to fire off a Krak Grenade at it. To my amazement it actually managed to find a weak spot, shaking the Wraithlord as the grenade exploded causing another wound! I could hardly believe it. Seeing the opportunity, Squad 2b also fired on the Wraithlord, they weren’t going to be fooled into attacking the Falcon, and their choice paid off, as the Krak Rocket pierced straight through armoured helm of the Wraithbone construct and bringing it tumbling down with an almighty crash, its’ limbs cracking under the displaced weight. The Mortar was way out of range now to do any more damage but was instead fired at the Falcon in the centre, however, the scatter saw it bounce off the thick front armour. The Commissar continued the advance, completely unsupported, and well, with very little left to advance to, but still he went!

Eldar Turn 5

It seemed I would have to rely on the trusty Falcons. Points well invested. The Farseers Falcon moved into a new position before firing on squad 2b, killing them off once and for all with some well placed shots. The other Falcon started making a move on the last remaining full unit. Squad 1b had been sitting at the back all battle firing on my units with their Mortar, it was time they saw experienced first hand the might of the Eldar. From its’ new position the Falcon was able to get them in the open and kill six, enough to send the unit packing. Elsewhere on the battlefield, the single Ranger, passing his man alone test with insane heroism, and the couple of Fire Dragons began moving across the board ready for the final turn, I was going to destroy every last thing for the dastardly drop trooping tactic. The Imperium would find out what happens when they try and defy the Eldar.

Imperial Guard Turn 6

Well, the game was mine whichever way you looked at it, the Falcons had long since destroyed any enemy threats to them and all that was left now was a fleeing unit and a commissar with a rather worried looking Grenade Launcher wielding Guardsmen. The infantry squad continued running, they were out of range of any soft targets and so they took a shot at the expensive Falcon. To my amazement they scored a glancing hit. At that point I stopped, I hoped that at this late stage of the game a Guardsman wouldn’t go and sour the victory. He rolled the dice, a five and... another five. The lucky little bugger. I couldn’t believe it, that fleeing guardsmen which I had blatantly ignored the previous turn had just got very lucky. Having moved over 6" last turn the immobilised result saw the Falcon come crashing to the ground. It was unbelievable, not only had that Guardsman taken a wound off my Wraithlord, he had also taken out a Falcon with perhaps the luckiest shot I had seen. Sorry, but on a point for point service, the Guardsman was tops. Who could have known that after surviving shots from Lascannons and Missile Launchers for 5 turns, the thing to finally bring it to an end would be a fleeing Guardsman with a Grenade Launcher. I could not believe it. Further south, the Commissar realised that he was up the proverbial creek without a paddle so stepped into the cover of the woods desperately hoping to survive.

Eldar Turn 6

I was annoyed. I didn’t care if I was winning, that still really got to me. I was mad, and the Farseer was not too pleased either, he definitely did not see that coming. His Falcon moved between the two remaining enemy units, and he stepped out, instantly picking out the guilty Guardsmen from the psychic signatures of the others. The humans mind was no match for the power of the Seer, and it crumbled under the sheer magnitude of it all, meanwhile the Fire Dragons saw to it that his buddies would not see another day. Everything else targeted the Commissar (and his friend) and the wieght of fire was just too much for him to escape, thrown against a tree as he was cut down by shots from the remaining Falcon. That was it, it was over. Finally.

Conclusion

That was an amazing battle. It was fast paced with each of us challenging, countering, and counter countering! I was able to control things to a certain extent at the beginning thanks to possessing a control over his units, and being fast enough to exploit the gaps left. The Falcons showed they were capable of a torrent of deadly firepower, easily cutting through soft flesh. However, even then he was able to use the seeming advantage I gained, by threatening my units with his drop trooping squads. I had to draw him down into a position where I could challenge him in return which meant that the Wraithlord then spent several turns going back and forth. Even though this meant that I was able to counter the drop troops it then left a gap which let his advancing units get a lot closer. Looking at things now, it took me too long to clear the right flank, not being able to take out the Basilisk first time round meant that I had to stick around for a bit longer, and also meant that it took me an additional turn to clear the centre. If I managed to save a turn then I could have got shot of the whole lot by turn five, and as it happened failure to do this resulted in my prize Falcon getting downed by one lucky Guardsmen. At least I got some satisfaction in frying his brain with Mind War! Totalling up the victory points that Falcon brought the victory margin right down, but still, I had enough points left to claim a Victorious Slaughter, but it was very close and could easily have swayed at a number of points during the battle. Right from the word go, in fact, even before it, things were walking a knife edge and the result was a legendary game.

Margin of Victory:

Victory point difference = 856

Result = Victorious Slaughter!