This battle was played against my brothers Eldar yesterday. The board was set up hastily on the kitchen table and was
an odd size. Instead of playing with normal deployment zones my brother decided he wanted to deploy with large zones. I would
guess to allow him to set up his nasty firebases and give his tanks cover. I decided to humor him. Thus the board was roughly
4 1/2 feet wide but we set up 18" from the edge putting us quite close together compared to the usual distances and normal
24" minimum.
The lists were as follows:
Vanilla Eldar
Farseer, mind war, shuriken pistol
Howling Banshees
(7), Exarch
Guardian Defenders (10), starcannon
Guardian Defenders ( 8 )
Rangers (5)
Rangers (5)
Vyper, starcannon,
CTM
Vyper, starcannon, CTM
Falcon, starcannon, CTM, holo field
Dark Reapers (5), Exarch, Eldar Missil Launcher, Fast
shot
Ultramarines 7th Company
Master Captain Vash Thalion
-Master Crafted Plasma Pistol, Iron Halo, Artificer
Armor, Power Weapon, melta bombs, terminator honors.
Master of Sanctity Chaplain Claudius
-bolt pistol, terminator
honors, jump pack, artificer armor
Tactical Squad Tyriel (10)
-Sergeant- Power Fist, Terminator Honors, bolt pistol,
frag grenades
-9 Marines, frag grenades, meltagun
Tactical Squad Oscelo (10)
-Sergeant- terminator honors, power
weapon, bolt pistol
-9 Marines, plasma gun, missil launcher
Tactical Squad Uriel (6)
-Sergeant- ccw, bolt pistol
-5
Marines, flamer
Assault Squad Herrion (5)
-Sergeant- Power Fist, Plasma Pistol, Terminator Honors, melta bombs
-4
Marines, 2 Plasma Pistols, melta bombs
Devastator Squad Altaris (5)
-Sergeant- bolter
-4 Marines, lascannon, missil
launcher
The total should be 1144. I cant remember the Eldar army properly my brother changes it every time.
Deployment:
Eldar
One squad of rangers went in a building on the left and the other on the right. Reapers sat under the rangers on the right
building with the starcannon guardians beneath them. The other squad of guardians was behind the left building next to the
banshees. One vyper was behind the right building the other on the left with the Falcon. The Farseer was next to the banshees
on the left.
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m307/Vash113/Picture106.jpgMarines
Devs went on the top floor of an administratum building in the middle of my deployment with tactical squad
Oscelo beneath them. Squad Herrion with Chaplain Claudius went behind a building on the left and roughly between the two deployment
zones. Squads Romus and Tyriel went right behind another biulding with Master Captain Thalion with squad Tyriel.
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m307/Vash113/Picture105.jpgWe used cityfight rules. I took Siege engineers and fortified building, my brother took ammo dump and fortified building.
Ian fortified the building on the left and I fortified the administratum building.
Turn 1
Marines
I jumped the
assault marines over the building they were sheltering behind. They had started exactly 18" away from the enemy rangers and
would need a feat of luck to get a 6 and reach them on the third floor of the building. But I decided to take the risk. Squads
Romus and Tyriel marched into the right building and managed to snap off a few shots at 12" range but not many. Two dark reapers
fell to devastators fire. The Assault marines luckily made their charge though only two could make it too the top. The sergeant
and another marine but it was enough and the Rangers were slaughtered. The squad consolidated 3" into the Howling Banshees.
Eldar
The
Skimmers, reapers and rangers took a tole on the marines. Two Devastators fell and squad Romus was cut down to a man. The
Falcon and left Vyper skimmed down the left edge of the board toward my lines and the second Guardian squad ran for it right.
In assault the banshees killed 3 Assault marines But the Chaplain butchered them. However the Farseer had also been cought
in the combat and the assault piled in.
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m307/Vash113/Picture107.jpgTurn 2
Ultramarines
Two more reapers fell and the Exarch took a wound but the rest of the Fire was ineffectual.
In assault the Chappy cut down the Farseer and he and the two surviving assault marines consolidated down towards the skimmers.
Eldar
The
skimmers shot down the two remaining assault marines but were not able to wound the chaplain. Another devastator fell to sniper
fire but they stayed together. Squad Tyriel took fire but none of its marines fell.
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m307/Vash113/Picture108.jpgTurn 3
Ultramarines
The Chaplain Ran jumped out of the building right and assaulted the fleeing guardians catching
them and cutting them down wholesale. They failed moral but with no units still locked they fled and wouldnt be coming back.
The chappy consolidated into the guardians with the support weapon platform. Before that the Devs and squad Oscelo fired on
the Falcon but managed nothing more than to blow a gun off.
Eldar
The Eldar skimmers shot as much as they could
but did not manage to cause any wounds. The rangers and Reaper Exarch did not either luckily. The chaplain won combat with
the guardians and cought them as they tried to flee then took a sweeping advance rolling a 6 and instead of locking with the
exarch hit the rangers up top.
Turn 4
Ultramarines
Captain Vash shot down the reaper Exarch with his plasma pistol
and Chaplain Claudius wiped out the rangers. The falcon still refused to go down under intense fire.
Seeing his army
all but gone my conceded the game.
All in all this battle proved little my brother made the same mistakes he had been
doing. he tailors his list every time and thus does not learn to use his units consistently. Ah well. I tried to counter this
by being more rash than usual to make it fair but my luck proved good and the risky attacks succeeded. Well nothing for that
but oh well.
Now some fluff:
Captain Thalion kicked an Eldar corpse onto its back. The body had been brutally
cut down by Chaplain Claudius' brash attack into the Eldar lines. The suicide assault had cost many of Squad Herrion's lives.
Luckily Veteran Sergeant Herrion himself and another of his marines would live but the other 3 brothers of the squad were
dead, hacked apart by the power weapons of the Eldar witches or blown apart by high power weapon blasts. Chaplain Claudius
himself had escaped unharmed though it would take many hours of work by the chapters artificers to fully repair the Chaplain's
armor. Fire team Romus had also suffered badly and brother Romus would live but only with some severe augmetics. Sergeant
Altaris and his fire team suffered even worse and most of his men would not fight again either having taken a heavy barage
of fire from the sinister Dark Reapers. Many had fallen but the Eldar dead was staggering.
"The Eldar suffered greatly
this day." Proclaimed Claudius approaching Captain Vash Thalion.
"Indeed they did. We did not escape lightly though.
Too many of our battle brothers fell this day for my liking Claudius, you were wreckless."
"My appologies Captain but
you cannot argue with results."
"I know my friend, its just the codex teaches more restraint in this situation. We
must be mindful to keep such heriocs to a minimum." Vash said sheathing his sword. "By the way where did you say you felled
the Eldar Farseer?"
"Over there on the bottom floor of that manufactorum." Claudius said indicating a building on the
north western edge of the small valley complex."
Nodding Captain Vash walked to the building carefully stepped inside
on the shifting rubble. The structure had been badly damaged before the fight and after Squad Herrion's brutal destruction
of its barricades and fortifications the structure was even less stable now. The body of the Farseer lay amid a pile of Eldar
dead his sword shattered and flesh torn. Kneeling at the side of the Eldar warrior Vash inspected his effects for evidence
of why the Eldar had attacked. He vaguely recognized some of the runes and markings on the Eldar vehicles but none had been
downed and they had taken off with the slaughter of their ground forces. Slowly he pulled a gold engraved pendant from a small
pouch at the Farseer's side. The metal seemed to resist his touch and exuded a powerful aura. It was all Captain Thalion could
do to resist destroying it as soon as he could.
"What did you find sir?"
Spinning Vash recognized Sergeant
Tyriel the massive bulk of his power fist hanging deactivated over his right arm.
"Ah Sergeant, tell me do you recognize
this symbol?" Asked Vash holding up the pendant.
"No sir but the chapters Librarians might help. Perhaps we should
return to Macragge. We are in desperate need of fresh supplies and reinforcements." Sergeant Tyriel said simply.
"Indeed
we have been away from our homeworld for too long and have losses to replace. Perhaps it would be best if we did return, come
sergeant let us gather our comrades and prepare to depart."
Outside the fighting fit marines of the 7th Company waited
at attention. They were painfully few recently having suffered heavily in past engagements. Indeed Captain Thalion had been
sent to take command because the 7th was so badly understrength. It would take time for the company to heal but until then
they still had a job to do. For now though it was time to seek answers.I hope you enjoyed the report. As always
questions and comments are appreciated.
