G'day guys,
The following Battle Report was, for me, a testing out two things. Firstly, I was using new Eldar list, which I wrote up not long ago and have been itching to try out in a battle. Though it was not used exactly how I had intended to use it when writing it, I was pleased to learn of its versatility and adaptability to different situations. For anyone interested, discussion about the list is
here Secondly, I finally got around to trying out my own new scenerio, Extraction. The scenario was in part inspired but CoD 4, due to the amount of times you must defend yourself from hoards of enemy troops while awaiting extraction. If you're interested in learning more about the scenario you can find it
here So without further adu, I present to you my (as usual) fluff style battle report. Enjoy!
Embrace of the Reaper Army Lists Eldar - The Exorcist (Prince Yriel's rules)
- 10 Dire Avengers, Exarch w/Additional shuriken catapult and Blade Storm,
(Wave Serpent w/EML, Spirit Stones, Shuriken Cannon, Vectored Engines)
- 6 Rangers
- 6 Rangers
- 5 Howling Banshees, Exarch w/executioner
- 6 Fire Dragons, Exarch w/Fire Pike and Tank Hunter
- Falcon w/Scatter Laser, Holo-fields, Spirit Stones, Vectored Engines
- Falcon w/(same as above)
- 4 Dark Reapers, Exarch w/tempest launcher and crack shot.
Black Templars (roughly)
- Brother-Chaplain Octavious w/Terminator Armour, Storm Bolter
- Emperor's Champion w/Accept any challenge, no matter the odds
- 7 Sword Brethren w/power weapon and lightning claws
(Rhino w/Hunter Killer Missile and smoke launchers)
- Dreadnaught w/Missile Launcher and Las Cannon
- 10 Initiates w/Missile Launcher and Melta-gun
- 5 Initiates w/Missile Launcher
- 10 Initiates w/Power weapon and Flamer, 9 Neophytes
- Vindicator w/smoke launchers and pintle mounted storm bolter
Set Up and Deployment The terrain was mostly urban ruins, a few tall buildings blocking LoS as well as a few shorter ones. In the centre of my deployment zone is a small tower, with a large ruined building to the right and further into the centre of the board. In the exact centre of the table is a small ruin (the place where the Spec-Ops team deploys) and to the far right against the right hand board edge is the crashed wreckage of an Aquila which runs almost into the Templar deployment zone. Between the Aquila and centre ruin, but further into the Templar deployment zone is a graveyard. The left hand side of the board was barely used, but suffice to say that it consisted of more city ruin.
We rolled off to see who was the attacker and defender, and as I won I opted to be attacker. In the centre of the board he deployed the Spec-Ops team inside the small ruin, which was randomly selected to be the larger 10 man Initiate squad with bolter's and the missile launcher. Directly behind them but much further back in his deployment zone he deployed the other smaller Initiate squad with bolter's, and to the right of them he deployed the large 19 man crusader squad with the Emperor's Champion and Octavious close at hand.
My Reapers deployed on the small tower directly in front of the centre of the board and the Spec-Ops team. To the far right in the middle of the board I deployed all 12 Rangers on th crashed wreckage of the Aquila, only just over 18" from his large crusader squad.
As the escalation rules are in play for this mission, the rest of our armies were in resserve.
Mission Objective Brother-Initiate Antony Donton crouched with his battle brothers in the crumbling ruins of a small church, attempting to take cover from the heavy enemy fire that had just begun to rain down upon them. The fallen concrete and beams of rusted metal was barely adequate to protect them from the small alien missiles that exploded around him, and they knew that they would not survive long without help.
"Command, this is Brother-Initiate Antony Donton, recon unit Alpha 296," the battle brother shouted into a small vox unit. "Our position has been compromised, I repeat our position has been compromised and we are taking heavy enemy fire. Requesting reinforcements and extraction immediately, alien units closing quickly."
<Approved, Alpha 296,> came the small voice through the vox. <Reinforcements are already arriving at your location and are preparing to engage the enemy. Sit tight and wait for extraction.>
Brother Donton threw the vox unit down angrily, knowing his men could be dead in moments. They were not in any position so simply be sitting and waiting patiently. What they had discovered was far too important to wait for chance to save them, they had to survive long enough to pass on what they had learned to their battle brothers or risk the end of their crusade.
If Brother Donton and his unit of initiates are destroyed by the end of the game, the Eldar are victorious. If Donton and his unit survive, their information is recovered and the Black Templars are victorious. Turn 1 Like a broken bird of prey ravaged by a fierce predator, the crashed wreckage of an Imperial Aquilla rested in the eerie silence of ruined city streets. Like a shattered skull, the cockpit lay half buried under upturned rubble with its rear torn wide open and parts scattered everywhere. Though it was no solid wall, this cockpit was well enough cover for the skilled rangers of the Morag-Kith Eldar. Twelve of them concealed themselves amongst the ruin, still invisible to the Mon-Keigh that marched forwards only a few feet away into the battle field. Slowly, silently, one ranger raised his arm to signal to his kin. They lifted their rifles. Twelve shots were fired and three Black Templar Initiates fell to the ground with a single Neophyte brother, their heads now bearing an eighth hole. The Emperor's Champion, who had marched alongside these brave soldiers, allowed no thoughts of fear or weakness to enter the minds of his still standing battle brothers. He picked out the alien marksman not far off, and spurred his men on with righteous fury.
Sensing the attack had begun, Yama'ra, Exarch of the Dark Reapers, ordered her kin to open fire once more. While before they had fired simply to keep the Mon-Keigh thieves from fleeing their hole, now they aimed to destroy the intruders that had attempted to take secrets that were not theirs. She lifted her own tempest launcher, firing a hail of deadly missiles down upon the shallow grave that the Templars' had tried to hide themselves in. From Brother Donton's men, three fell.
"We've been spotted," Donton cried to his brothers', "return fire!"
The Black Templars' from Donton's unit raised their bolter's and attempted firing at the dark figures just barely silhouetted upon a short tower. But they were right on the edge of the Templars' range, and not a single shot hit. Brother Hassildor however carried a missile launcher, and sent a single explosive rocket speeding towards the aliens' position. The top of the tower exploded, but when the smoke cleared only two xenos had fell. It's kin remained firm where they were.
A second missile came shooting just over Donton's head, which had been fired from some distance behind him by his approaching allies. This gave him some hope, but the missile went wide and failed to kill a single alien.
Elsewhere, the Emperor's Champion led his valiant soldiers for the Eldar position amongst the ruins of the Aquila. He already knew that they would not make it in time before the aliens' were able to fire another volley of deadly sniper rounds, but Brother-Chaplain Octavious gave them some hope by firing his storm bolter from behind them. The ranged projectiles found the chest of one Eldar ranger, shredding his insides completely. But the remaining xenos did not flee, and readied their guns.
Turn 2 Gliding almost silently like black crows, two Eldar Falcons' swept onto the battlefield to help bolster their assault. One housed the deadly pyromaniacs known as the Fire Dragons, while the second transported the swift thunder of the Howling Banshees and their master, the Exorcist of the Morag-Kith. Both Falcon's flew up the right hand side of the battlefield, one coming to rest between the Aquila's ruins and a large building. The second however sped over the top of the Rangers' position, and stopped only a little closer to the enemy's side of the battlefield. The first Falcon, still able to fire its guns with some degree of accuracy, opened up its deadly cannons of the loyal followers of the Emperor's Champion. Two Neophytes and a single Initiate fell to the dangerous plasma weaponry.
The ranger's joined in the bloodshed and killed three more Neophytes from among the Templars' numbers.
Yama'ra was relentless in her determination to see the Mon-Keigh thieves destroyed. She had remained expressionless during the death of two of her disciples, her beautiful face hidden behind a cruel mask of death. She felt nothing of them now, only a heightened determination to see the audacious humans' utterly destroyed. Two more marines from Donton's unit were killed in the next volley, and the remaining soldiers' now threw themselves into cover out of fear of the next, effectively pinned.
The ground shook with the righteous footsteps of Dreadnaught Laertes, storming onto the battlefield ahead of the remaining Templar forces. He marched past the smaller long range crusader squad that had tried to support Donton's unit from far back, and spotted the Eldar vehicles threatening the Emperor's Champion and his knights. Laertes allowed his las-cannon to power up with a distinct roar, before discharging a bright beam of red energy. The blast struck the very front of the Fire Dragons' Falcon's hull, the Holo-field unable to absorb the damage. The wraithbone flesh of the vehicle exploded into fragments and melted almost instantly. In the calamity to escape the burning wreckage, two Fire Dragons' were killed. The remaining Dragons' found themselves entangled in the confusion.
The small unit next to Laertes fired upon the distant Eldar Reapers' with their missile launcher, once more. And though this time the shot was true, it failed to break the unique alien armour that shelled their fragile bodies.
As for the Champion and his brothers', the enemy was finally within their grasp. One Initiate opened up with his flame thrower, torching three of the Eldar rangers' to crisp corpses. The xenos stood firm to their purpose however, and allowed the remaining enraged Space Marines to charge into their ranks and slaughter them. Not a single ranger was spared from the wrath of the Emperor's Champion, or his crusading battle brothers'. But that had fulfilled their purpose, and knew that they might not have survived. They had exploited the zealous nature of the enemy and diverted their attention away from the real objective, which was helping Donton's unit. They had also lured the Mon-Keigh Champion right into the heart of their trap, which was now to be sprung. The Black Templars' did not consolidate far.
Turn 3 From the rear of the second Falcon leaped the Howling Banshees, and slowly and confidently the Exorcist following in their wake. They were crashing into the followers of the Emperor's Champion before the Space Marines realise what had happened, cutting down eight crusaders with their long deadly power weapons. But even in the confusion the Emperor's Champion was still able to single out the leader of these vile creatures, the dark figure of the Exorcist himself. The alien wore black entirely black armour, and was swathed in a blood red cape. Clutched in its gauntleted hand was a long thin sword, which seemed to consume all light around it rather than reflect any from its black surface. The Champion pointed at his nemesis in fury, forcing aside a battle brother in his determination to get to the enemy leader. Raising the honoured Black Sword, the Emperor's Champion cried out in righteous anger, which was his dying breath. The Exorcist ducked under his arm and cut a deep gash in the side of the Champion's chest, before rising behind him and cutting his head from his shoulders with one swift movement.
Donton crouched down, fragments of rubble and dirt threatening to bury him as another volley of alien firepower fell down upon him.
"This is Battle-Initiate Antony Donton of recon unit Alpha296," Donton screamed into the vox, the connection to command failing. "We are under crushing enemy fire. Resserves will not reach us in time. What the Eldar are looking for, it's not really an artifact of their own design!"
<Say again...Donton...breaking up...please repeate, you are...up,> came the fragmented reply through the vox.
"The Eldar have excavated a Necrontyr structure, possibly a tomb complex! I repeat, the Eldar have excavated a Necrontyr tomb structure, and are planning to destroy it!"
<I'm sorry...you...are unable....please....repeat............>
The static worsened on the vox, until the connection broke completely and Donton resigned himself to his fate. The next volley of Eldar missiles came crashing down upon him only moments later, utterly destroying the bodies of him and his battle brothers'. Donton felt the painful embrace of the Reaper, and Yama'ra smiled grimly.
Results By the third turn of the game the Dark Reapers' had utterly obliterated the Spec-Ops team, resulting in Donton's information not being passed on to his commanding officers. Thus, the Eldar kept their secrets hidden and secured victory that day.
Discussion I would like to speak extensively on A: how the list performed, and B: how the scenario played. I made mental notes on both during the game, and will express any possible changes to either of them in their respective topics if anybody is interested. I will say that the list worked quite well however, the squads each complimenting one another, the list able to take some damage but remain functional, and easily adaptable to suit the mission being played.
On the scenario itself, it was only mildly fun to play really, but for two reasons. Firstly my opponent was a dill who didn't really care for the objective that much really, and this made the job just plain too easy. There was no chase involved, no tense moments when the last remnants of the Spec-Ops team clambered for ultimate safety, nothing. They were easily just targeted and destroyed with the role of a few dice. Secondly, after play testing from other players I've heard that the Spec-Ops team can just be plain too easy to kill. I will likely make some significant changes to the rules surrounding the Spec-Ops team itself, not only to make the scenario more interesting, but also to bring it closer to that desperate CoD 4 feel where you defend yourself from hoards of oncoming foes! But that will be discussed in more detail in the missions thread.
Talking about the game more itself, my opponent was what I fondly refer to as "And Eldar players delight". We all know that Eldar players must be crafty to cover for their armies weaknesses, and so that's what I did. I deliberately deployed those rangers on the far flank close to the large crusaders. I knew they were likely to die, but it drew my opponents attention to that part of the board and away from the Spec-Ops team itself. Had I not done so, and he been more sporty with his Spec-Ops team, I may have been forced to send my Falcon riding aspects after the unit and risk tangling with the large crusader squad. In short, I ensured that they were out of the way and that the Reapers could do the dead quickly and quietly. Watch out for ploy's like this when versing Eldar players, really look for what are the
real dangers, not the pretend dangers or easy kills. The objective should always come first, because an Eldar (and possibly Dark Eldar) player will try and divert your attention while a single squad nabs the missions goal. This is much unlike Space Marine or hoard armies, which will simply plonk themselves on the objective and try to hold out.
Of course if you're an Eldar player, you may want to try one of these ploys out. Simply make one area of the board look more threatening than another. Your opponent may pile troops into the area, not realising the real danger is a squad of Reaper, Rangers, or yet to disembark aspects.
It's also important to notice that not all the resserves got on the table. Though ultimately I don't think the arrival of the Sword Brethren or the Vindicator could have helped the Spec-Ops situation, an earlier arrival by them may have seen Aquila area of the board more contested and perhaps enabled him to win the flank and focus his energies elsewhere. On the other hand my Avengers didn't show up, which was amusing because half the aim of the new list was to test their effectiveness. I was hoping they could zoom in and finish off the Spec-Ops team as they tried to flee. Of course they were not entirely needed, and if they had shown probably would have been used to help fend off oncoming Templar Resserves from being able to aid the Spec-Ops unit.
Well that was the game, hope you guys enjoyed the read and took away a few handy tips. Please check out my other topics if you are interested.
Cheers, Cal