Having painted all those space elves recently, the last task before posting them was to check they were all working properly. Skype Fight Night!
It's me, Kraken, facing off against Leofa. He's something of a lapsed player these days, 9th ed's ever increasing complexity had turned him off. So we're turning back the clock and playing something more akin to 8th Ed, but porting a few updates in.
No funny bonus rules, just the Datasheet stuff, is what we're aiming for. No Objectives beyond the basic three (rerolls, interrupts and morale), no armour of contempt, no Strands of Fate dice, no Combat Doctrines, no relics or traits. Our army traits are intact, because our poor middle-aged brains can both cope with those, but otherwise you get what you see!
Mantly Men
For me, it's the Mantis Warriors. Infantry footsloggers here, tons of ObSec and boots on the ground, but with some good mobile punch as well seeing as they can all advance and charge.
The Tactical Squad will break into combat groups, a multi-melta in one half and the flamer and Sarge in the other. A Land Speeder Typhoon for mobile strike power, and a Vindicator for fire support, then I've got cheap scouts to go up front and hopefully screen out the Eldar deep strikers, especially those damn gates.
Otherwise, I'm led by nice tame characters and bringing a lot of bolters, but it's a speedy list who should be no slouch to take off capture points. There was a Rhino in the list originally, but I forgot about it when putting out the models and couldn't be bothered to fetch it for the game - it also felt like a friendly concession to the fact that Leofa had no choice at all in his army composition, and was being forced to field a pair of Webway Gates, which is quite a points sink!
Mantis Warriors Battalion Detachment - 1300 points, 6 CPs
- HQ - Gravis Captain with Power Sword
- HQ - Primaris Lieutenant with master-crafted bolter
- Troops - 10 Tactical Marines, Sarge has plasma pistol and lightning claws, one has a flamer, one has a multi-melta
- Troops - 5 Intercessors with autobolt rifles, Sarge has a power fist
- Troops - 10 Assault Intercessors, Sarge has a power fist
- Elites - 5 Scouts, Sarge has a combat knife
- Elites - 5 Relic Terminators, Sarge has a volkite blaster and chainfist, one has a heavy flamer, one has twin lightning claws, the others have power fists and storm bolters
- Fast Attack - Land Speeder Typhoon with heavy bolter and missiles
- Heavy Support - Vindicator tank, just the cannon
- Dedicated Transport - stayed in the cupboard
Craftworld Cheese
Leofa is getting exactly what he sent me. A squad of Rangers, a Farseer, the aforementioned pair of Webway Gates, five each of Wraithguard and Wraithblades, a Spiritseer to look after them.
And the Avatar of Khaine.
If I can survive a Lord of War to the face, there's also a Wraithseer, which is a psychic dreadnought. This one's brought a D-cannon and an angry expression, mostly because he doesn't have the right magnet options for this particular variant, but he's more expensive and more fun, so fits well into this list.
They're playing as Ulthwe today, who have a tasty selection of army traits. Psykers get +1 to their first cast, everybody can reroll a single wound roll per phase, they all get a 6+ invuln and a 5+ shrug for mortal wounds. What they can't do is their funky Strands of Fate dice nonsense, but their Farseer is going to give them a single free reroll per turn to make up for the lost ability.
Ulthwe Craftworld Aeldari Patrol Detachment
- HQ - Farseer with Doom and Guide powers
- HQ - Spiritseer with Ghostwalk power
- Troops - 6 Aeldari Rangers with wireweave nets
- Elites - 5 Wraithguard with D-Scythes
- Elites - 5 Wraithblades with Ghostswords
- Heavy Support - Wraithseer with D-Cannon and Empower/Ennervate power
- 2 Webway Gates
- The Avatar
Mission and Terrain
Deployment
His Rangers go out first, and he puts them into cover at the back, holding his objective. My Scouts go in the middle (in a pond near a tent, exactly like my scout camp experience as a youth), which I'm relieved to be able to do - this screens out the Webway Gates a bit.
Not by much, though! They quickly appear across the middle of the board, and for those of you who haven't met them yet, they let reserves deep strike in regardless of nearby enemy troops (even letting you appear in engagement range), and there is no way of destroying them. Yikes, although two is still probably a bit silly.
After that, it's pretty straightforward. I go for a broad line across the field, Leofa sticks a big blob of Wraith types in his top corner, and I pray for first turn so I can at least do something with the Scouts before they all die.
Mantis Warriors Turn 1
Aeldari Turn 1
This lets them set up the classic Aeldari combo of Guide and Doom, on the Wraithguard and Scouts respectively. Would you believe it, the 5d6 D-Scythe shots with full rerolls completely annihilate the young marines? Well, they do.
Adding insult to these injuries, the Rangers snipe three wounds off the Gravis Captain, and the Wraithseer contemptuously blasts the Land Speeder out of the sky. It explodes, but to no effect other than dramatic.
Mantis Warriors Turn 2
The Vindicator spots that it's maybe a bit close to those gates, so reverse parks in a swamp as a bit of charge mitigation. Stupidly, I park by the bridge, which we've decided isn't part of the terrain, so it really makes little difference! At least they'll have to go through the Gravis Captain.
Shooting gets off to a great start - the Terminators chew through the remaining Scouts handily enough, and the Multi-melta very nearly kills the Wraithseer, taking it down to a single wound with some rerolled damage. The Wraithguard pretty much shrug the Vindicator's shot, though - snake eyes on the damage that gets in is rubbish, and I can't reroll that! At least one of the spooky boys dies thanks to flamer hits.
The good news is that the Terminators make their charge (with another reroll) and promptly clobber the Farseer. Guide that, you bastard.
Aeldari Turn 2
The Avatar leaps out to take on the Gravis Captain, pausing only to fling a spear at him which he luckily takes on his Iron Halo. He's less lucky with the charge, the Wailing Doom sweeps his legs right off and the big lad piles into the Vindicator.
From the same gate, the Wraithblades pour, making an easy charge into the Terminators and cutting down three in short order. My Lightning Claws pull down one in return, but the Chainfist on the Sarge manages an impressive triple one to wound, killing nothing at all, and the space elves have retaken the back line.
The Wraithseer dashes through overwatch fire and starts hurling the Tac marines about, but it's the start of a slow and whiffy fight. My guys just need to scrape one wound off the lanky construct, whereas it can't really murder through a large unit reliably, so they're in for the duration.
Mantis Warriors Turn 3
The Assault Intercessors turn up, but they can't get that near the middle, and instead try (and fail) to charge out of a swamp at the back. And although the Intercessors pour a lot of fire into the Avatar, none of it sticks, and when they boldly charge it thinking to hold it up for a turn, it obviously pastes them without really trying.
The Terminators claw down another Wraithblade before they fall, and my only moment of triumph is when the Multi-melta marine somehow doesn't die in the ongoing fight with the Wraithseer! I do still have my own back objective, though, so that's nice.
Aeldari Turn 3
Not that there's much left - the Wraiths start cutting down Assault Intercessors (damn you, Blast, and your additional hits against large units!). Using rerolls, Mr Melta does score a wounding hit on the battered Wraithseer! Leofa has a sticky moment, but the armour holds. So does mine, however, with box cars on a pair of saves, and the plucky heavy weapons guy keeps on fighting.
Alas, Leofa now holds all the vital points, and I'm looking decidedly shaky on long term survivability.
Well done on (a) getting those lovely Aeldari models on the table, (b) solving 9th ed rules bloat by simply ignoring it and (c) getting Leofa to play
ReplyDeleteand d) taking on an Avatar of Khaine with chainswords.
Deleteand e) a Vindicator
ReplyDeleteThis was tremendous! Very enjoyable to read through a simple game. I need to try this approach!
ReplyDelete