Stuck in the Middle with You: Eldar vs Militarum Tempestus

General Hotspur has returned, and this time he's packing clowns! Yes, it's another non-skyped match, as I attempt to avenge my defeat to the Ultramarines from last time. 

It's a Maelstrom mission, Cloak and Shadows, and the Hagan Lampreys are going to try and maintain their victory streak. No mean feat with me, Kraken, at the helm...

Militarum Tempestus

If you've seen the Hagan Lampreys in action before, I'm afraid I have no surprises for you here in this list. It's the usual triple of squaddies, split into a hefty Volley Gun squad, a mid-range plasma team and a close up melta/flamer team. Two Taurox Primes and the Valkyrie to speed around in, then a Tempestor as the Warlord. He's brought an Ogryn bodyguard, because he's bound to need it.

Today's new flavours are a Primaris Psyker, because I'll need something to block the Eldar buffs with, and one of the all-new Vindicare Assassins. Yes, they handed my ass to me in my last game, so I'm using the shiny rules from WD to add in a bit of ranged sniping to the team. Costs me one CP, so he'd better be worth it!

9th Hagan Lampreys - Battalion Detachment

• HQ - Colonel Badger, Tempestor Prime with Command Rod, Warlord with Grand Strategist trait and the Deathmask of Ollianus relic
• HQ - Primaris Psyker, Nightshroud and Smite powers (I didn't know I got another one so didn't pick)
• Elite 
• Troops - Scions x 10 with vox, 4 Hotshot Volley Guns and a chainsword for the sarge
• Troops - Scions x 10 with vox, 2 Plasma Guns, 1 Hotshot Volley Gun 1 Melta and a chainsword as above
• Troops - Scions x 10 with vox, Flamer, Grenade Launcher, Melta and Plasma and once again, the sarge's chainsword
• Dedicated Transport - Taurox Prime, Gatling and two hotshot volley guns, stormboleter
• Dedicated Transport - Taurox Prime, Battlecannon and two Autocannons
• Dedicated Transport - Valkyrie - Multilaser, Hellstrike Missiles, two heavy bolters

Operative Requisition Sanctioned (-1 CP) - Vindicare Assassin

7 CPs, 915 points plus the 85 in reserve for the assassin

Eldar

Over Christmas, Hotspur has somehow inherited a mixed Eldar list from his brother-in-law. Game of Thrones style inheritance, I'm sure, with a Red Julbord and everything.

Because it's a small and friendly game, and because he's never used them before, and because he's never fought Tempestus Scions before, we've waived the Battle Brothers limits for the Eldar in matched play. Craftworld Eldar with a small detachment of Harlequins seems properly fluffy to me, and having never played against them, I'm always interested in being killed in new and exciting ways!

This lot look nasty from a distance (which is where I need to keep them). The Soaring Spite Harlequins count pistols as assault weapons when firing out of their transport, don't get the penalty for doing so, and can jump in and out of a transport in a single turn with strategems, so I'm expecting my vehicles to vanish in a series of hit and runs. Don't even get me started on the Solitaire.

Backing them, the Alaitoc Eldar are harder to hit at range, which adds up horribly well with the penalties for darkness in our mission. Their commanders can boost everyone's shooting, and they've only gone and brought a Wave Serpent. Everyone knows those are nasty.

Serenade of the Unbidden Fury - Patrol Detachment with the Soaring Spite Masque

• Troupe Master - Power Sword and Fusion Pistol, Warlord with Player of the Light trait and the Storied Sword relic
• Troupes - 5 x Harlequins, 4 Fusion Pistols, 1 Shuriken Pistol, 5 Harlequin's Embraces
• Elite - Solitaire, Harlequin's Caress and Kiss
• Dedicated Transport - Starweaver, two shuriken cannon

401 Points plus 2 CPs spent to turn the Troupe Master into the Great Harlequin, who sounds like bad news

Alaitoc Craftworld - Battalion

• HQ - Farseer, Shuriken Pistol and Witchblade, Smite, Guide and Mind War powers
• HQ - Warlock, Shuriken Pistol and Witchblade, Destructor/Smite and Embolden/Horrify powers
• Troops - 10 x Guardian Defenders plus a Starcannon platform
• Troops - 5 x Rangers
• Troops - 5 x Rangers
• Elites - 5 x Striking Scorpions
• Dedicated Transport - Wave Serpent with Crystal Targetting Matrix, Shuriken Cannon, 2 x Starcannon

597 points, 6 CPs overall

Terrain and Deployment

Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I set up a 6x3 table with plenty of LOS blocking jungle cover. So our deployment zones only go 6" in from the edges, to balance it a bit. It still means there's less ground for the Harlies to cover before they're in mincing range, so we're both going to have to use the ground to good advantage to block shots and charges.

Oh yeah, Harlies ignore terrain when moving and charging, don't they? So much for any advantage I may have there. Eep.

Those red numbers on the map are the Objectives. Our cards are held in secret for this Maelstrom game, and any shooting at over 18" gets -1 to hit for the general twilight sneakiness of the mission. Although you can blow a command point to light up a unit with flares, which is nice.

We're using the original deployment rules here (although we do put First Strike in play instead of First Blood), and after rolling, Hotspur goes with a good old Dawn of War drop zone. He also spends more command points to put the Starweaver and Wave Serpent into the Webway, so they'll be a nice surprise for me to discover later on.

As you can see from the map, we both deploy the rest of our armies rather cagily. Mine are all hiding in transports (one in each Taurox, the Ogryn Bodyguard, Psyker and Vindicare in the Valkyrie) which are hiding behind things themselves. There's a single squad on the board ready to rush up the steps to the walkway. The Tempestor Prime is in freefall above the battlefield, so I can deploy him when I know where my battleline might end up.

The Eldar have Rangers in the central tower and on their left flank, with the Guardians in the middle in a nice shady wood. Various shifty characters lurk safely behind the buildings and crates along the north line, where there's no way my sniper can see them.

I've finished deploying first, and try as they might, the Eldar don't steal it, so I get the first turn!

Tempestus Scions Turn 1

So off I go, running blindly into the night to achieve my mysterious goals. Which turn out to be Kingslayer, Hold the Line and Defend Objective 4. That's not too bad - turns out I don't need to run blindly anywhere, I can sit back and wait until I can see their leader!

Nobody moves except the Volley Gun squad, who move up the stairs as planned. The Vindicare also pops out the hovering Valkyrie and climbs up the nearest crates. This will probably keep the enemy leaders lurking out of sight, which is good, because then they won't be killing me quite as much.

I can't see much of the Eldar, but what I can see, I can shoot, and that's mostly the Rangers in the tower, so I pop the Flares strategem to try and take them out.

It takes a lot of shooting! Luckily, I have quite a lot. But between their cloaks, cover, the night and their semi-invisible Alaitoc nature, they manage to weather the firepower of both Tauroxes, the Valkyrie and the Volley Guns without actually dying. One remains, taunting me by being a model I've loaned out to make up numbers.

Traitor!

No points scored, then, and I discard Defend 4 as another of High Command's inevitable jokes at my expense.

Eldar Turn 1

For a famously fast army, these Eldar don't seem to move much! They must be up to something, perfidy being their other defining trait.

Whatever they have in store for me, it's still pending at this point. After getting Guide from the Farseer, the Guardian Squad find themselves just out of range with their Starcannon and can't shoot the Valkyrie. So they light up the Vindicare instead (I'd forgotten the Character targeting rules temporarily). He very nearly ends up with a hilariously short career as a poster boy for the dangers of countersniping, and is only saved from death by a low wound roll.

Elsewhere, the Warlock sneaks closer to Objective 4 and the other Rangers flit into some nearby undergrowth, but there's little else going on. No First Strikes for anyone, nothing else claimed, so the tension merely mounts.

Tempestus Scions Turn 2

Well, no point hanging about too much. My new Objective is Witch Hunter, which matches Slay the Warlord nicely, and I can get Hold the Line this turn by staying more or less put. Easy money!

That said, I want to keep the enemy guessing, so the Volley Guns advance along the bridge towards Objective 3. The Plasma Squad pop out of the Cannon Taurox in the middle and jump on Objective 5, and the Gatling Taurox speeds into the central bushes by Objective 1. That's decent control, I reckon, and should help stop any sudden Webway ambushes.

The Vindicare jumps off his crates and moves towards the next building, partly to maintain my anti-deep strike bubble, but also because he doesn't want to end up dead. And the Tempestor grav-chutes his way from above and joins the Volley Guns on Objective 3, just in time to issue Orders!

Get Back in the Fight! he tells the Volley Guns, who pick off two of the Rangers in the bushes ahead. And Bring it Down! he tells the Plasma Guns over the vox, but they're too late - the Cannon Taurox shoots the last Ranger down, so they have nobody to shoot at. The Gatling Taurox makes a weak attempt to bully the Guardians, killing a few, but not enough to bother them much, because they've activated their portable shield strategem and suddenly have a great big saving throw.

This leaves me just able to claim Hold the Line (the map's not totally accurate, the Scions in the middle were further back), so I'm off the mark! But I'm already losing, as the Eldar also claim Objective 4 with that sly Warlock just in range of the marker.

Objectives Claimed - Hold the Line (1), Defend Objective 4 (Eldar, 2)

Eldar Turn 2

From nowhere, the first Eldar transport arrives. The Wave Serpent is thankfully distant, popping up on the back corner. No idea why, but that in itself is probably ominous. 

There's much more pressing things on my mind, however, which is that Hotspur activates Blitz on the Solitaire. I'd forgotten this model was even there at this point! It hurtles over the ground, bounding from floor to roof in appropriate style to end up about two inches away from the Tempestor Prime, who attempts valiantly to put his grav chute into reverse. 

Wuh-woh.

The Rangers also climb the building, backing this lone lunatic. Something tells me it's going to be a one-sided combat phase. 

Psychics and shooting first, however, and the Farseer Guides the Wave Serpent as the Warlock Emboldens his Guardian pals. Capitalising on this, the Wave Serpent smacks a good block of wounds off the Valkyrie with Starcannon fire, and the Guardians plink a wound off the Gatling Taurox with Shuriken fire as their own Starcannon also lights up the Valkyrie. I'm lucky, the wound rolls could have been a lot worse!

Then the Rangers charge the Scions on the bridge, handily making it in past Overwatch so the Solitaire has less to worry about. Or so he thinks - he's close enough to cop a Krak grenade to the chops from the Tempestor, which even gets a couple of wounds off! Nice to leave a mark before I die, at least. 

Or so I thought! For the dice are unkind to Hotspur (they're my dice, they're unkind by nature), and although splitting his ten attacks evenly between the Scions and the Prime is pretty sensible, we've both reckoned without the Deathmask of Ollianus. Somehow, I scrape by on a single wound! Nearly half the squad dies, though, and it's a fluke I'm not dead. 

No points are scored, and furtive Eldar discarding makes me suspect I'm probably in his way somewhere or other. Fiendish inscrutable xenos...

Tempestus Scions Turn 3

Another new card, and it's my old favourite Scour the Skies. Blast - the Wave Serpent is a flyer, but isn't going to die easily, and the Starweaver isn't here yet.

Time to get out of dodge, I decide, and as my surviving troopers run back down the bridge in the middle, the Valkyrie hits boost and heads for the far corner. The Cannon Taurox drives in its shadow, the Gatling Taurox ploughs through the vegetation towards the Guardians, and the Plasma squad advances up the middle, lending fire support.

The Vindicare scales the nearest building and hurriedly squints down his sights...

My Warlord is a bit battered-looking, but there's a handy heal function on the Deathmask, so I pop that for a couple of wounds back. Then he barks orders, telling his Volley Guns to Get Back in the Fight again, so they can light up the Rangers and finish them off. The Gatling Taurox decimates the Guardians, leaving only the Starcannon alive (and it flees later).

And then the Vindicare lets fly. He's moved with a heavy weapon, it's dark, there's only a fifty-fifty chance. But my dice are generous, and the shot's good. Down goes the already-wounded Solitaire, thanks to the new Head Shot ability (more on that later).

Hurrah! I cry, slapping down my Slay the Warlord card. "That's not my Warlord," Hotspur points out, and I sheepishly pick it up and put it away again. Crap, that's right, there's an even more deadly clown out there still to come, and I'm still losing on points as I discard Scour the Skies.

Eldar Turn 3

Another pulse of Webway energy, and here at last comes the Clown Car. Now, you can't see it on the map because the primitive programming of BattleScribe can't cope with advanced Eldar shenanigans, but this thing appeared by the generator on the right side of the map, flew over the buildings to unleash a tide of fusion death on the Valkyrie, then faded with a strategem to go back where it came from. 

Now, I knew Eldar can pull this kind of horrible surprise off with ease, but it was still a nasty shock to see it happen. At the same time, the Wave Serpent surged forward towards the middle of the map, tearing another wound off the Vindicare as it did so, and the Farseer emerged from hiding, muttering something about revenge.

"You chaps stay here a tick, I've just remembered something."

Now, I think I've misremembered something somewhere, I don't quite recall how the Harlequins got out of the Starweaver whilst also shooting down my Valkyrie from inside it. Maybe they just ran over the roof, shooting as they came, then crashed into combat where they handily finished off the rest of the Volley Gun Scions. At the same time, the Big Clown himself had flipped and somersaulted over and into the Tempestor Prime. Poor old Badger, it really wasn't his day.

"Ah. Well, the joke's on me, then."

Except it was! Once again, the dice proved fickle, and Hotspur couldn't quite take him out. He even managed to hit with another Krak grenade in overwatch, claiming a single wound off the Troupe Leader. Staggering back down the stairs and back on his last wound, Badger was clearly glad he'd eaten his shreddies that morning.

Elsewhere, the Farseer tried to smite the Gatling truck and failed, so boldly decided to charge in and do the job in person. A great many dice and the swift use of Defensive Gunners later, he was regretting this. Witch Hunter was mine, and we were neck and neck!

That shadow is a cloud of descending lead.

...Until the Harlequins scored Objective 3, anyway. 

Objectives Scored - Claim Objective 3 (1), Witch Hunter (1, Scions)

Tempestus Scions Turn 4

Even with a lead in models on the table, this wasn't going to be easy. Not with an objective draw like Psychological Warfare (not much use against small, high Leadership squads).

The Cannon Taurox sped after the Starweaver, but too fast to aim terribly well, and I only clipped a pair of wounds off it. I did have plans for a charge, along with the strategem that lets vehicles hit on 2+, but I didn't make it in, which was probably just as well.

The Gatling Taurox dropped a squad of Scions off in the woods, aiming to Linebreak, and then drove off towards the other Eldar psyker, who fared just as well as his boss in the shooting phase. 

My own psyker managed to smite a couple of Harlequins, so I was glad he'd appeared at last. 

Up the stairs came a big Ogryn Bodyguard, freshly survived from the wreck of the Valkyrie. Badger couldn't actually get past him, so I wasn't going to be able to charge the Troupe Master. So I shot him instead, with the Vindicare once again proving very handy at picking off low-wound characters. 

That was almost that, and I'd finally scored Slay the Warlord. Phew - now I was just in the lead again! Seeing as I hadn't scored Psych Warfare, I ditched it, there weren't going to be squads I could claim it from in the near future if I had my way. 

Objectives Scored: Slay the Warlord (3)


Eldar Turn 4

I'm not really comfortable in the lead. It feels unnatural. So seeing the Striking Scorpions leave the Wave Serpent and run en masse towards objective 2 on my left flank gave me a sinking sensation. 

The Starweaver slipped off into the back field, and the remaining Harlequins charged Badger, who promptly vented his shreddies on dicovering I couldn't get the Ogryn into combat as the stairs were too narrow. At least they'd have to kill it first! 

The Wave Serpent landed on the roof next to the Vindicare (he's still there on the map, just hard to see), where it whiffed a round of shooting against the Gatling Taurox. 

It would only take one wound to finish Badger. Amazingly, there just weren't enough Harlequins to make it past both the Deathmask save and the Ogryn shield, but it was a sweaty moment all the same. The Ogryn soaked two wounds, and the game rolled on without more scoring. 


Tempestus Scions Turn 5

It's nice when high command laughs at you. My new objective draws were Regimental Pride (use Badger to kill an enemy character in melee) and Blood and Guts (ha haaa haaaaa you're having a laugh). I am clearly being commanded by sociopaths. Command points went on redrawing that, and they were well worth it - Area Denial was a steal, the centre was already clear.

Badger ran pell-mell into the middle of the Plasma Squad, which closed ranks around him. The Cannon Taurox pulled back, the Gatling Taurox sped on and was able to draw a bead on the Scorpions. Four went down in a hail of bullets, but I'd hoped for more. Luckily I could take my frustrations out on the last Harlequins, who were much to close to live through a round of assorted Scion fire.

The Eldar looked down, but you never know with Maelstrom games, so I wasn't relaxing yet.

Objective Scored - Area Denial (3)

Eldar Turn 5

Sure enough, they clearly had some nasty last-minute goal in mind. The Wave Serpent and Starweaver both zoomed into close range, and the Wave Serpent discharged its shield! Scratch one Ogryn Bodyguard after the shooting phase, which also saw a few wounds depart the Cannon Taurox. But again, my wretched dice were being stingy with the wounds, and the twin starcannon didn't do as much as it could. 

The Striking Scorpion jumped onto objective 2, but couldn't quite advance round the corner as he might have liked to. That tank was close behind. But the Ogryn wasn't just a vindictive killing, it had a purpose! A sly Eldar Objective purpose for killing a character...

Objectives Scored - Legacy of Sorrow (1)

Tempestus Scions Turn 6

Now into extra time, I don't remember what I drew as new objectives. Maybe I even forgot? It was late. Nothing I could achieve, I know that much. 

There wasn't much left I could do. The Scions set all fire on the Wave Serpent, and now it wasn't shielded, it took a beating but lived. The Gatling Taurox cruised up to the last Scorpion and murdered it just before it could claim Defend Objective 2, the Vindicare sunbathed on his roof and life generally looked good. But the game still wasn't over...

Eldar Turn 6

Then the Eldar vehicles pulled one last, vainglorious charge! Turns out Starweavers are actually decent in combat. And this after it managed to gun down the Primaris Psyker with a quick hail of shuriken!

But it proved to be too little, too late. And suddenly, the game was over and we both scored Linebreaker.

Objectives Scored: Linebreaker (both 1)

Results: 5-9 to the Tempestus Scions!

Back in the Clown Car

As we mulled things over, it became clear that Hotspur had been robbed. Slay the Warlord was in his hand for the entire game! If Badger hadn't managed to survive three entire rounds of close combat with murderclowns, against all form and reason, everything would have been a lot closer.

Or would it? Hotspur also conceded that he'd underestimated the shooting power of Taurox Primes, and overestimated the Valkyrie. If his lethal Starcannons had been hunting the little boxcars instead, he wouldn't have been throwing Farseers into their sights, for example.

I wondered too if there had been too much stuff in the Webway. Mobility is not a weak point for the Eldar, and on a terrain-rich board, I reckon he could have hidden pretty easily for the first turn (I know I did). The thing I feared most was sudden death strikes by those drive-by fusion guns, and there wasn't really anywhere on the board I could avoid them.

Lessons learned, anyway! Nice to score my first win of the year, but I'm sure having a first-time Eldar General facing an all-new foe probably helped a lot.

Mind you, the Vindicare helped a lot too. The new Head Shot rule lets him do additional mortal wounds to someone he's shot if they survive the first hit, and it's a really effective rule. Too effective, I should say. He can shoot pretty much anyone he can see, twice with strategems now, ignoring invuln saves and very often hitting and wounding on an unmodifiable 2+. He's fast. hard to shift, can deep strike, has bonus fancy gear and is really going to give any opponent a headache. All this for 85 points, which is in the same league as a Neurothrope. I know which I'd rather take.

The other Assassins are all just as crazy. It's pretty typically OTT, as GW shiny new rules often are, and if I had to stick my neck out, I'd expect tweaks next time there's a FAQ. Taking all four for a functional Vanguard detachment that actually gives you CP? That's nuts. Watch for it at the next tournament, and pray they put a 0-1 limit on each assassin, because three of each would be miserable to play against.

Cheers to Hotspur for a great game! And there will be more to come, his Ultramarines must feel the vengeance of the Swarm in due course...