May 30, 2008

Some thoughts on Tau

Hey.

We had the "first" game with my wip Tau this week and I was pretty pleased with the outcome. As I just wanted to test the few units I already have, we played with no restricted FOC and I was out for a lot of points to get as near as I can get to 500 points.
I fielded:

Shas'O (cyclic ion blaster, plasma rifle, missile pod, hw multitracker)
12 firewarriors (including a Shas'ui with bonding knife)
Warfish (SMS, targetting array, multitracker, decoy launcher, disruption pods),
Sniper drone team

First game was against Eldar. Basically Trotzki put a squad of guardians with star cannon, dire avengers (don't remember how many), 3 dark reapers and as HQ an autarch with jump pack and fusion pistol on the field.

We played on a 48"x48" table with two LOS blocking buildings and several 5+ cover ruins. Mission: Kill'em all!!!

That game ended with a draw, me only having the the warfish left and all Eldar killed.

Second game against Space Marines.
A Reclusiarch with jump pack, pfist, frag grenades, terminator honours.
6 SM with missile launcher and flamer
10 SM with heavy bolter, flamer in rhino with extra armour and smoke.

The Marines suffered yet again another defeat. The Tau could outmaneuver them completely. On turn 2 and 3 I really thought the chaplain would get the commander and he was on the run, but he could escape him and meanwhile shoot on the tactical marines. In the end I had 5 firewarriors, the devilfish and the commander left, the marines entirely wiped out (*sigh* for me marines...)

Ok, let's come to my musings :-)
The winner of the game or MVP or whatever you wanna call it was definitely the Shas'O! This guy rocks! The cyclic ion blaster is really worth the points and combined with either 2 missiles or 1 to 2 plasma shots is really devastating against everything. And with a bs of 5 he nearly hits everything he points his guns to. I often read that the 'O is not worth the points and one should rather take the 'El and spent the 25 points elsewhere but I must say that I really appreciate the advantages this guy brings with him and I think he is worth it and he suits my style of gaming (with 4 wounds I willingly risk jumping him into difficult terrain...). A little drawback is the missing invulsave (the autarch melted him straight into oblivion), but I think with more models on the field and his IC status will make him more survivable.

Firewarriors in warfish: I wanted to test the famous Fish of Fury so I kept them back until 3rd or 4th turn. But I am really satisfied with the warfish. The SMS is really useful and the addition of a targetting array further enhances that.
But I must confess that I still have to learn to guess 12" correctly. After I FoFed a SM squad I got charged the next round...sadly. But oh dear, the little firewarriors managed to kill 2 marines! Yeehaaw!
Ok, I think with 2 fishes it will perform better and when I am able to place them exactly in 12" distance to the enemy it will be pretty nice. (but to be honest, I really really fear the whirlwinds my marines will definitely field! Two units of 12 FWs bunched up base to base and a 5" pieplate with ap4 wounding on 2s....kiss your *** goodbye!)

Ok the gundrones: CRAP! Really, I like the style of them, but game-wise crap. Not being able to move, only hitting on 4s or sometimes on 3s with 3 shots is ridiculous. And as I understand it, as they have to keep unit coherency with the spotter they can't even use their jump capability in the close combat phase to move away from their position. Maybe they are more useful when fielding 3 teams but a single one is crap. And at higher point games the HS slots will be filled with far more versatile units. Sorry guys, you will stay at home the next games.

Conclusion: Shas'O is great, skimmers are great, JSJ is really funny and I am looking forward to the next games with hopefully more models.
And let's see what 5th editions brings concerning the warfish and LOS for the suits.

May 22, 2008

Spotlight on Chaos

Welcome to our weekly Spotlight on Chaos. Lets dive right into it.

Spotlight on the humble Chaos Space Marine:

Since im playing Black Legion these guys form the backbone of my army. Alot of people prefer the Cult Marines over the CSM and there are alot of good reasons for this. In my opinion the main reasons for using Cult Marines over CSM is the fearlessness of the Cult Marines. So while i understand most of the reasons for using Cults Marines over CSM, my choice is mainly based on fluff and personal preference.
Perhaps although the good results i had with my Salamanders back in 3rd Edition. Good old Rhino Rush!

Most of the time i use 3 troops of 10 CSM, all equiped with a flamer, a melter, an icon of chaos glory and a champion to lead them on the field. They are all tighly packed together in the incredible cheap rhino.

CSM FRT:

6 Chaos Space Marines
1 Chaos Space Marine with Icon of Chaos Glory
1 Chaos Space Marine with Flamer
1 Chaos Space Marine with Melter
1 Champion with Power Fist
1 Rhino

So these guys come at 255 points and have barely ever let me down. They are capable of dealing with almost everything.
They have a decent chance to kill vehicles/montrous creatures with the melter and the power fist of the Champion.
They can put a dent in troops with weak armor, by using their bolter and the flamer.
They can hold themselves in close combat, by sheer number of attacks and the Champion.
And dont forget about Rhino, its cheap, it speeds the them up and increases their threat range and provides mobile cover. It can be used for shielding other units as well.
So for a measly 255 points you get a unit which can be used for almost everything. While some may call it "jack of all trades, master of none" i prefer to call it "tactical flexibility".

So thats it for this week, tune in again next week for another episode of Spotlight on Chaos!

Cheers,
Clausewitz

May 19, 2008

Eternal Glory to Chaos ! - Praise the Changer of All Ways

Hi Guys,

so as promised I got a little more in love with my dark side and - with the new codex finally out - started a Demon army. And because I really like the fluff and background of Tzeentch I decieded to follow him for greater glory. As those of you that already have read the codex may know, there are a lot of choices that have no model in the GW range. But there are a lot of descriptions in the codex for all people that like to play with these models. So my first descision was to do a herald on a chariot. The description in the codex says something about screamers and a flying disc of Tzeentch... well not what I think about when it comes to works of the great mutator. So I got myself two Chaos Spawn kits and a whole lot of green stuff and created something awful...

Front
SideBack

So I still have to clean the model up a little, but after all I am quiet pleased with the outcome. Now to start the little guy riding my precious baby...

So what do you think ?

Trotzki

May 17, 2008

Project Log: Tau Sa`cea

Hi,

I had the idea to start a project log for my relatively new army, the Tau of the Sa'cea Sept.

When my Marines had reached a comfortable level (pointswise....ahem) and I always thought of a second army, ranging from Chaos to Necrons to Imperial Guard including considerations espacially on the Tank Company (the Baneblade is still on my mind) I finally thought of the Tau. Clausewitz once bought some of them the days the last codex was released but never really started painting them. I never thought well of them since fluff-wise I don't like them at all. But as time went by I changed my opinion about them and started to rethink that whole thing again, read the codex, was impressed by their weapons and nice rules (JSJ ftw!) and most of all the oh so beautiful tanks made me change my mind. In the meantime Emperor (our friend, not Him on Earth ;-) ) became the owner of the little still unassembled and unpainted guys (he was as excited as me about their weapon loadout especially when comparing flashlights with pulse rifles *lol*) but as he didn't started them as well, the boxes changed the owner again and they found their new home with me. Namely I aquired 2 boxes of firewarriors, an XV8 commander and a sniper drone team. So basically all one needs to start the first 500 points.

And here is what I have already painted: 12 firewarriors and a XV8 Crisis suit in the famous Fireknife configuration:

I decided to paint them in the Sa'cea colours, I like the blue and it matches the cityfight scheme of my Marines.
At the moment I am painting a devilfish/hammerhead (still undecided). But as I think a project log or pics about painting a mere transport isn't that exciting I will post a pic in the overall project log here when it's done.

May 14, 2008

Spotlight on Chaos!

Hoi,

welcome everybody to our (hopefully) weekly spotlight on Units from Codex:Chaos Space Marines. In this Spotlight i will try and bring to  your attention units which i like using in my Black Legion army.
Perhaps sometimes its an odd choice supported by my style of play and personal preferences, but nevertheless i hope that you may find some usefull hints.
Allright lets dive right into it:


Spotlight on: The Chosen

I highly recommend these guys. I normaly use em in the simple shoot em up configuration and to give my army some much needed AT potential. Their ability to infiltrate enables me to place them where i need them to be. May it be on the enemy side of the board, holding a strongpoint in the middle or on my own side facing excatly the thread i need them to take care off.

Chosen of Shootiness:

3 Chosen with Bolters
1 Chosen with Lascannon
1Chosen with Plasmagun
1 Chosen with Icon of Chaos Glory

These guys come at 168 points. While you could always drop em down to 5 with just a Lascannon, this will make em hit 125 points. I for my part prefer the 6 man loadout, since it gives me more punch. 
Its really a unit which you have to get used too, since when you compare it to the the loyalist ubiquitous 6 man las/plas troop (seen in extensive action in our Battle Report), youll pay 53 points more. Less if they use Veterans or Traits to get Infiltration. But to be honest, who does?

Recently ive been toying with a more melee/shortrange shooty configuration. 10 man armed with Melters and Powerfists. These guys of course become quite expensive. But i find it hard to do the theorycrafting on their usefullness. And since i dont get to play as much as i would like recently, i will have to wait till i get to try them out.

This concludes our first weekly spotlight on Chaos.

Cheers,
Clausewitz

May 8, 2008

Trotzkis Starwanderers of Alaitoc (part 2)

So here you have the second part of my Alaitoc army. Troops and Heavy Support - the most powerful sections of an eldar army (in my opinion).

Troops :

The Guardians of Alaitoc

Guardians ... what to say about them ... Got most of them from Ebay (notice the second edition starcannon) and they were they first models I have painted. Learned the hard way that it´s really better to keep them back and as cheap as possible cause they die like flies and run whenever the avatar doesn´t back them up. The starcannon is nice for termie busting but against anything else it´s just expensive overkill.

The Pathfinders of Alaitoc
So fluffwise these models are the most important of any Alaitoc force. As you can see I only have five finished until now - but aanother five are almost done. When upgraded to pathfinders and put into +4 cover these guys are really a pain. Without the upgrade they are a little to expensive for my taste.

Exarch Motri´Archel and his Dire Avengers

More Dakka ... thats my first thought on these guys ... I´m not used playing with other "volume of fire" armies, but it is very satisfying to unleash over 30 shots from one unit. They really earn my respect in every game (in contrast to the guardians). Especially when going "Serpent of Fury" they really wrack havoc. The Exarch is also equipped with two catapults to get most of the humble bladestorm.

Wavesperpent "Eldaneshs fury"

A falcon without holofield ... omg. I know that most people in forums tell you not to take them (especially not with the lances) but the serpent almost always takes it freight at least near the enemy (please ignore that the battle report in this regard). A second one is in production to give my Dire Avengers and the Banshees a confortable ride.

Heavy Support:

Exarch Quar´Astacil and his Dark Reapers

I have read an article on bolter and chainswords some weeks ago were a marine player proclaimed he wouldn´t play an eldar player that is using this unit. While I also have to say that this unit is every marines worst nighmare, I also really like to point out, that a troup of five with exarch costs as much as a terminator unit with assault cannons and that with less armour and toughness. On the other side they very often tend to completly rule one half of the map - unless they are hit by a stray lasercannon shot and run of the field (I´m really good at failing morale tests with them - as with my Spears). When the rumored rules for scattering of blast weapons in the fitth edition are true you will soon see the exarch with an tempest launcher and crack shot.

Wraithlord Taranorth

Tankbuster No.1 in my army and always good for some endgame (he is always around) IC crushing (again - don´t look at the battle report ... stupid Hermann...). The only drawback on him is that he and my Farsser have some unhealthy relationship regarding perils of the warp. It seems that poor Ald´Rhun has some bad headache when getting to near to Mr. FancyWarroirSpirit and always sends his mind for little warpwalk. That is why Taranorth often suddenly lacks wraithsight ... and the old guy rather throws curses on all the young folk running around his feet instead of busting land raiders und ripping Company Masters to shreds.

Falcon "Ishas Avenger"

I know that, as a good eldar player, it would be my responsibiliy to tell you that holofields are fine and that there are a lot cheesier units in the game ... But after the experience of 5 Heavy Bolters (Tank Hunter), 2 Missle launchers (Tank Hunter), 2 Lascannons and 2 Plasmaguns shooting on this flying wonder without having it destroyed I also got the strong feeling something might be fishy. Paired with the odd six harelquins of cheesiness you have a "point-and-click" unit that is winnig games on its own. I´m really exited if you will see a difference in his durability in the next edition.

Support Weapon Platforms

I know what you think ! ... I like them ... Once they destroyed a whirlwind in round one ... and once they killed some guardsmen and they were pinned. They also are really good at standing around and holding quarters ! Well other there is not much to say about them. Inexpensive but in most cases almost useless against anything with good armour. I´ve I ever finish my warwalker squad they will take there place in my footslogger army.

So this is all - hope you enjoyed this little showcase... hopfully you will see this guys in action again soon...

TrotzkiHatesMe

May 7, 2008

Grand Marshall Hermann

Hey folks,

I proudly present my re-painted Master: Grand Marshall Hermann, Master of 1st company of the Sons of Sigismund


As you may realize that is the same model I used in the Batrep as a master. I painted this model of Lysander somewhat around autumn last year and he had to be finished rather quickly so I haven't been that creative with the banner and he overall looked a little bit flat with the white shield on his torso and all the Imperial Fists-details I had removed. So I decided to give him a little bit more attention as I think it is a really great model (except the strange pose of the hammer itself....). I am pretty pleased with the banner and the new torso shield and the cross on his coat. Maybe I will re-do his right leg a little bit but I have no idea yet.

Batrep Eldar vs. Space Marines: Turn 5/6

As usual the 5th turn began with psychic powers. The farseer fortuned himself and doomed the LasPlas marines on the tower.

The dire avengers and the avatar continued their walk towards the mechanicum and on the left flank the wraith lord and the guardians not in close combat advanced as well.

The dark reapers exterminated the LasPlas marines on the left and the wraith lord shot again on the librarian but missed entirely. The avatar shot his melta sword on the landspeeder and shook the crew. The doomed LasPlas squad on the tower lost one marine to the fire of the last three dire avengers. The guardians ignored the librarian and shot at the devastator squad and downed 2.

The master could only kill 1 guardian but that broke the morale of them and they ran away. He repositioned himself facing the advancing wraith lord he intended to charge.

The Avatar had to die and so the last 2 missile launchers and the LasPlas marines targeted him and caused one wound on the monstrous creature.

Death-defyingly the master charged the wraith lord but could dodge the deathly blows and kicks of the monstrous xenos warrior. In return he landed 4 devastating blows and wounded it severely (2 wounds). The Librarian attacked the remaining guardians but could just kill 1. But the righteous charge of the psyker was too much for them and they broke close combat and fled. The librarian just turned away from them and tried to reach the mechanicum.


Turn 6

The warp must have been very turbulent over the battlefield and even the farseer couldn’t focus and so the last turn began with no successful psychic powers.

Both decimated guardian squads had their morale broken and ran away. But the nearest unit to the mechanicum building shot their star cannon on the flight but after close combat with the librarian they were too confused to hit anything. The snipers of the pathfinders targeted the remaining LasPlas marines but couldn’t do any harm. The dark reapers tried to shoot the librarian in the back but the missiles weren’t able to penetrate the terminator armour. And one barely could believe it the shadow weavers killed 2 space marines! (LasPlas on the tower).

The avatar moved into the building and shot again on the landspeeder and destroyed the assault cannon and then charged. The burning sword cut cleanly into the reactor of the flyer and ripped it apart in a gigantic explosion consuming the avatar of Kaela Mensha Khaine!

On the other side of the battlefield the wraithlord was too stunned by the hammer blows and was smashed down by the marine master who then moved towards the dark reapers.

On my turn the master further advanced and finally charged the dark reapers, killing them both. The last missile launcher shot a fragmentation missile into the dire avengers what killed 2. The last marine on the tower aimed his by now really hot plasma gun at the farseer. But the ancient technology was too stressed after having fired so rapidly and exploded killing the marine.

That pretty much ended the game. No one had brought a scoring unit into the enemy building and so we concluded on a draw!

This game was really fun to play as it was exciting to the very last round! We both nearly wiped out the other army that only a few (non-scoring) units had been left (ok, except the shadow weavers and the pathfinders…but ugh…should they really be there?...).

I think we both enjoyed the game and there have been some really funny moments!

May 6, 2008

Trotzkis Starwanderers of Alaitoc (part 1)

With most of the battle report of our last game online, I decided it´s time to bring out the cheese and show off my proud craftworld childs. This is my first Warhammer 40k army and as such I stuck to one of the standard paint shemes - Alaitoc - because I like the wanderer fluff and the bright colours. You may recognize that I have some models (like the shadow weavers and my quite big seer council) many people would never use in a "sane" (means competitive) list. So here they are - sorted by there place in the FOC :

HQ :

Farseer Ald´Rhun and the seer council of Alaitoc
So here you have every eldar players favourite HQ choice. With fortune and doom he really never disappointed me (even if he pops his quite intellgent head, while thinking to hard about the future and stuff). When I started this eldar army I was able to catch me five quite inexpensive warlocks on E-Bay. Together with the three I already had, this lead to one big point sink. But once this unit gets into melee, especially when they are fortuned they tend to hack away their foes by sheer number of wounds. When they aren´t fortuned ... well thats one juicy target.


Autarch Shil´Haram

One underused HQ is my shiny little autarch. Has seen some nice games when going to war with my warpspiders. Alone he often tends to go down in a blaze of glory because even with decades of battle experience low toughness and strength are often enough to bring him down quite fast. I think he would be used more if it wasn´t for the other two HQ choices that tend to outclass him.

The Avatar of Kaela Mensha Khaine
What´s not to like about this guy ? The Avatar of war leads my eldar in almost every game to war and fills the hearts of my little eldar with visions of bloodshed. Fortuned he is near unkillable and whenever he reaches the enemy lines he hits is one furious bastard. My favourite memory is him getting charged by five assault termis with chaplain and come out almost unharmed! Thats one incorporation of a war god.... if only the model would be a little more up to date. But there is always Forgeworld...

Elite :

Troupe Master Farlarith and his Harlequins
Let´s say it all together : CHEEESSSEE. That´s everyone first thought on these wanderers of the webway. Really like the fluff of these guys and the link they put between the craftworlds and the dark eldar. In game terms there isn´t much other to say as to avoid these guys in CC and shoot the hell out of them. They tend to kill whatever they attack and once they are in melee the game often completly tends to get onesided. When combinded with a Cheddar-GOD-justcantkillit-Falcon ... well almost every player who met a tri-falcon list knows the outcome...

Exarch Sariss and her Howling Banshees
The girls of the shrine of the banshee never disappointed me in the games I use them. Quick and deadly they slice away the enemies. They may be made of shiny eldar glass and die like flies once hit but in melee even assault marines get a beating.

Fast Attack :

Exarch Nutaniel`Shardah and his Warp Spiders
My warp spiders have seen some really good and some awfully bad games. I seem to have some real luck when shocking them, so I have made a lot of good experience with that (many people will disagree with that I think). The really tend to rip everything to shreds when shooting and when joined by the autarch, he and the exarch will also put out some damage in close combat. The only backside is their price ... even power armour won´t protect you from a whole army´s shooting.

Exarch Ipharil´Setar and his Shining Spears

Here it is - the mother of all hit-or-miss units. When they reach there target ... oh what a joy - they just blew the enemy away. In theory this unit is every marines and terminators bane, but in the game... well... sometimes they work and sometimes they won´t. Really one risky unit - from my experience it´s best to keep them back and wait for a reeaally good target to charge.

So much for the HQ, Elite and Fast Attack options. Troops and Heavy Support you find in part 2 of Trotzkis Starwanderers of Alaitoc.

Batrep Eldar vs. Space Marines: Turn 4

Again the farseer tried to fortune the avatar but this time it didn’t work but he doomed the master of the marines and the bodyguards.

The avatar moved towards the assault marines, the dire avengers marched in the direction of the devastator squad and the banshees jumped over their wrecked transport and headed towards my left flank. The last 3 warp spiders did the same.

The ranger fired again on the LasPlas squad on the tower and shot 1 of them down. The combined fire of the warp spiders and the dire avengers took 3 of the devastators down but the morale of their brothers couldn’t be broken.

On the other flank the guardians targeted the advancing terminators and killed them all. The wraith lord again tried to kill a space marine leader but failed. The dark reapers fired their missiles on the LasPlas squad in the ruins but they ducked behind the rubble and nothing happened. Needless to say, that the shadow weavers failed again to kill anything.

The banshees stormed howling into close combat with the LasPlas squad and sliced effortlessly through the power armour and killed 2 of them. Dazed by this furious onslaught the marines couldn’t do anything. The assault marines faced the avatar of war and lost 4 brothers to the burning creature. The sergeant tried to hit it with his power fist but wasn’t able to do any harm.

The librarian tried again to focus but failed yet again.

The master moved towards the guardians to take revenge for his fallen terminators and the landspeeder moved into position to fire on the dire avengers and killed 3, the nearby LasPlas squad killed another 4 of them. The warp spiders were blasted apart by the missile launchers and the heavy bolter.

Meanwhile the avatar killed the assault sergeant and moved towards the mechanicum building. The banshees killed 2 more but 1 died in return by the marines until the librarian reached the fight and killed the last of them with his force staff. Before the master could smash 4 of the guardians under mighty hammer blows he was attacked by the couraged cicilians in arms and thy managed to pierce the terminator armour and inflicted one wound.


Batrep Eldar vs. Space Marines: Turn 3

All psychic powers of the farseer worked and the avatar became fortuned and the assault marines were doomed. But the warp tried to break through into reality and the farseer was attacked but his ghost helm held off the perils of the warp!

Moving phase was done quickly, the spiders jumped in front of the assault marines and the harlequins and dire avengers further moved towards my lines. On the other flank the wraith lord and the guardians did the same. Farseer and avatar stayed a little bit behind.

The fire of the warp spiders sent 5 assault marines to the ground and the dark reapers finally wiped out the heavy bolter devastator squad. Both star cannons took the librarian and his last terminator bodyguard as target and killed the elite warrior in a blaze of plasma fire. Now that the librarian was on his own the wraith lord fired the bright lance and missile launcher on him but the Emperor protects and nothing happened! The rangers killed another marine on the tower but weren’t able to pin them. The shadow weavers again had no luck and killed nothing.

On my turn the master and his terminators advanced in direction of the dark reapers to bring the assault cannons to bear. The librarian moved a bit behind them. Seeing the harlequins in range the assault marines moved in a probably suicidal jump out of cover right in front of them.

Both flamers of the assault marines opened fire and bathed the xenos in a gout of promethium and completely burned them to ashes! The LasPlas squad on the tower and the landspeeder targeted the warp spiders and killed 4. Having witnessed their comrades shredded into bloody mist by sustained bolter and plasma fire their courage broke and they retreated 16” towards the avatar. Seeing this mighty incarnation of war their spirit rose and they regrouped.

The librarian tried again to focus his psychic energies but the warp was too dense that he couldn’t cast the fury of the ancients.

The assault cannons of the terminators tore 3 dark reapers apart and the missile launchers of the last devastator squad killed another 2 banshees.

I achieved my unofficial goal to kill the harlequins ;-) but I had to sacrifice the assault marines for that. But I think that they would have caused more damage if they had reached my lines.
From my point of view the battle looked a little bit grim for me since my troops became really decimated that turn and a lot of eldar stood near my building and I only had the master and his retinue near the enemy position facing the wraitlord, 2 star cannons and the 2 remaining reapers.
But have faith in Him! The Emperor protects!

Batrep Eldar vs. Space Marines: Turn 2

This turn would see some serious firefights so let's see how it turned out:


The second turn started with psychic powers and the farseer fortuned the avatar and tried to doom the librarian with his retinue but the psychic hood denied that.

Trotzki rolled for reserves and his dire avengers became available and appeared at the sewer entry next to his harlequins facing my right flank, he then moved them 2” back trying to get into cover but did not reach it. The warp spiders and the serpent moved in front of the dire avengers, the harlequins stood in the back of them. The farseer and the avatar moved forward as well.

The shooting phase began with the warp spiders wiping out the lower LasPlas squad, quickly followed by the upper LasPlas squad which was blade-stormed by the dire avengers. The serpent killed one marine of the heavy bolter devastator squad, the dark reapers killed another 3 but the decimated marines passed their leadership test and held the ground. The star cannons of the two guardian squad and the wraith lord targeted the librarian squad again and killed 2. The shadow weavers shot on the assault marines again, but killed none. After the shooting phase the warp spiders made a fatal second jump: they lost one in the warp (Trotzki rolled double six) and that took them partly off the field what killed another 2…

I moved the landspeeder away from the backward sewer entry and faced the warp spiders but hid behind the ruin to stay out of sight of the rest of his army. The terminators advanced further forwards but I consistently rolled badly for difficult terrain so they moved just another 2”.

The serpent was my worst concern at this moment and I tried to down it so that the banshees would be entangled and maybe lose some. So both LasPlas squads and the devastator squad with the missile launchers shot at it. And all I achieved was to shake it. This thing was nearly as resilient as a falcon… Following the "always concentrate your fire-rule" both terminator squads had to shoot at it as well. Again another shaken result and the last assault cannon shot it down and destroyed it. 5 banshees died in the crash. The heavy bolter devastator squad then shot at the guardians and killed 4. Finally the landspeeder targeted the warp spiders but the xenos armour held off all incoming bullets. The serpent having soaked up nearly the whole firepower of my army this round really was very bad for the marines and I had a very bad feeling for the third turn. At least the banshees were pinned and the dire avengers would not shoot after having blade-stormed.

May 4, 2008

Batrep Eldar vs. Space Marines: Turn 1

Trotzki won the roll and chose to begin.

Basically he moved everything to the front except the dark reapers, shadow weavers and the guardians. The shooting was opened by the barrage of the shadow weaver targeting the assault marines and causing 4 wounds but the power armour took the brunt of it and none fell. The bright lance and missile launcher of the wraithlord found their mark and one terminator of the librarian squad was evaporised. Another terminator of the same squad was hit by a starcannon but the plasma bolt couldn't burn through the thick armourplate. The missile barrage of the dark reapers killed 4 marines of the heavy bolter devastator squad. During this heavy pounding a sniper of the pathfinder team took a bullet right through an armour joint of a marine from the LasPlas squad on the mechanicum tower.

On my turn 1 I moved my Terminators forward but they just managed 3” due to difficult terrain. Since my Assault Marines were bunched up and targeted by the blasts of the enemy artillery I spread them a little bit but they held position. The librarian tried to focus to let a psychic construct rush towards the enemy but because of the runes of warding of the runeprophet he took a perils of the warp attack and lost one wound. The master’s terminators opened fire with both assault cannons and stormbolters on the avatar of Khaine and wounded him two times. Encouraged by this the terminator retinue of the librarian targeted him as well but didn’t wound him. The LasPlas Marines near the terminators tried to shoot on the dark reapers but failed their target priority check and had to shoot on the guardians and killed one. The devastators had more luck in shooting at the dark reapers and managed to inflict 9 wounds on them, but oh dear, they passed ALL NINE armour saves! Bad, very bad. Since nothing juicy was in range or sight for the other squads I tried to shoot on the harlequins but the veil of tears dazed all marines trying to target them.


This ended Turn 1.