Tournament - Battle Report (part 1)

The tournament was lots of fun! In a stroke of ill luck though my first random match up was vs the Missile Spam list I had so much trouble with in testing. I did actually perform better than in testing and I think that's largely due to the lovely amount of terrain we had available on the tables. Missions were #s 1, 3 & 4 out of the Adepticon 2010 team packet, modified slightly for singles.

I knew it would be a challenge, and was hoping to at least win best painted since I knew that Space Wolf list was still waiting for me.

Battle Report - Death at Big Mek's Shop

Had a very wonderful (vassal) game with Commissar Carrie, and though it started a little lopsided, eventually blossomed into a nail biter! Had I known that it would have ended thus, I'd have gotten more snapshots.

The start of the game had me deployed with 2 Zoeys on one flank, 1 on the other, with two squads of warriors in cover (note the blood). Carrie's DeffKoptas scouted up the left and right flanks and blew them away with help of some other units on TURN ONE. They never got to move!

Battle Report - Daemons vs Eldar

Been a little pre-occupied this week, and the draft I had started for this Battle Report never got saved, so here we are (with no excuses left) starting over. Had another game with Da Machine last weekend at the local game store Phoenix Games. They have awesome tables with gorgeous terrain. Also home to the biggest (chaos) titan I've ever seen.

Mission was Annihilation, Setup was Dawn of War. 2000 points. Da Machine brought lots (3 or 4 groups) of Plague bearers, a group of harpies, nurglings for days, 3 spawn, a Great Unclean one, Daemon Prince, nurgle's accountant and some little robed thing that spits huge vomit. I deployed my scouts and waited for the rain of pestilence.

Battle report too. Long over due.

Well the moving is done, and the unpacking has commenced. Sadly my painting setup that I had imagined did not work out, so I'm still at a loss on where I will be painting. Still, I'm very glad the move is over and the new place is much much bigger. I'm also glad that I'm back online. I've had a difficult time with AT&T the last few days.

But enough of that, you didn't come here to listen to her prattle. You came here for a battle report!

So the game was 2000 points, Eldar vs Blood Angels. Mission was Annihilation (again, bleah) and setup was pitched battle. BA went first and reserved everyone. I failed to steal the inititave.

Is it... a Battle Report?

Yes! She lives.



Yes, I have an unfinished figure on the table.
I'm so ashamed..



The last several weeks have been a whirlwind of busy. I had to scramble to put my halloween costume together (successfully I might add). The party was comic themed, and I wanted something a bit obscure. Sadly, since I got out of comics in the early 90s, my idea of obscure is unheard of for the average comic fan now. Still, the ones that went and checked it out after the party said I made a spot on Typhoid Mary.

After Halloween, the packing began in earnest. I'm still doing it. I hate moving. But it will be a bigger place and more room to spread out my hobby instead of a tiny little corner between my computer and sewing desk.

But this is a battle report. I took a break on Sunday to get in a game with the guys before moving. I won't say last, since I'm only about 50 minutes away and will certainly come running back when they dangle the Apocalypse hook in front of me.

Battle Report - Swarm of Personality vs Space Marines



The Great White Hive Tyrant can be sneaky at times.

 So after hearing Fritz blog and blog about the Tyrannofex I finally broke out 'little brother' and began converting him over. I guess he'll be "mini-T'fex". Of course, being Queen of Magnets I'm magnetizing his main gun so that I can swap between rupture cannon and the gun that rolls far too many dice (doesn't have codex handy fleshborer hive). I picked up a lot of devourer guns on ebay recently, and several of them have a date with some green stuff for this conversion.

Battle Report - Tyranids vs. Eldar

A little overdue, but we finally got to play this game yesterday.

Noah took;

Eldrad + 3 warlocks

Avatar

3 squads of Dire Avengers

1 squad Pathfinders

1 squad of Striking Scorpions

1 squad of Fire Dragons

1 squad Howling Banshees

3 Wraithlords

I used the Swarm of Personality list with 3 zoanthropes and a lictor

Battle Report: the Rematch!!

When our FLGS closed in December, a very nice guy in our group of regulars opened his home to us on Sat evenings and Sundays so that we would have a place to play. I just wanted to give a shout out to him and say thanks!

So yesterday I took my Eldar with me because I'd spent all week painting my final Wave Serpent and I think getting a tactic worked out that I believe will make my Shining Spears playable. :) However my opponent requested I bring the bugs 'just in case'. I didn't mind since last week I was smashed back to the bottom of our challenge tier by Daemonhunters of all things. The above photo about sums it up; a lone DA fleeing his wrecked serpent next to a immobilized Falcon.

Ok, so the rematch at hand; I took basically the same list as previously stated minus the shooty tyrant, tyrant guard and the spore for the 'stealer squad. We were playing 1500 points.

The Eldar had a much changed list; Avatar, Farseer, warlocks, walking Dire Avengers x 2, Fire Dragons and Scorpions (all full squads), a Wraithlord and 2 Fire Prisms.

C&C mission, Pitched Battle deployment. I put everything in reserve but the Zoeys and Biovore, which I hid behind buildings near the left and right flanks to increase chance of 'stealers getting into combat. Eldar won deployment, I failed to steal inititave. Scorpions infiltrated 12" from the biovore and zoey i hid on the left side of the board (next to the objective). First turn they assaulted and killed the Zoey, Biovore got one shot off that missed, and the subsequent spore mine was run down by a tank in turn 2. Biovore was slaughtered and one of the other zoeys was wounded by the Wraithlord. My turn two saw 1 squad of stealers, Carnifex and Great White Hive Tyrant all show up. The Carnifex dropped behind enemy lines and directly behind one of the Prisms, The GWHT dropped behind the building sheltering the Avengers sitting on their objective and the stealers outflanked the other Avengers on the left side of the board. Shooting left 2 objective Avengers dead, one Prism without weapons (thanks to the spore). Assault wiped out the flanked Avengers.

Turn 3 started with the Avatar fleeing the stealers, the fire dragons vapourizing the spore and the wraithlord failing to wound the carnifex. The active prism and zoeys continued their dance of not hurting one another, and the scorpions came out of cover in preparations to throw themselves upon the stealers threatening their Avatar. My half of turn 3 had the other stealer squad show up, the first squad charged towards the avatar, the second came on the board threatening the scorpions, the GWHT flew in to support the carnifex, who was looking at fire dragons, Farseer and warlocks and wraithlord. The only shooting that scored a wound was the carnifex who vomited bio plasma on and killed 4 fire dragons. Sadly, they were fearless due to the proximity of the Avatar, and enough died that they were no longer in assault range. Both stealer squads engauged their targets, and the ferociously charging Great White wounded a now WS & BS 1 wraithlord, who failed to strike back, sadly the bonesword failed to kill it outright.

Turn 4 resulted in dead scorpions and a dead avatar, but he took plenty of company with him. The fire dragons melted the carnifex, but were assaulted (and wiped out) by the 6 remaining stealers. The other stealer squad fled to the ruins containing their own objective, narrowly being missed by a Prism blast. The farseer and warlocks assaulted the GWHT, counting on their fortune to keep them from becoming snacks, they inflicted two wounds, but the Tyrant's acid blood melted one of the warlocks' face off.

Turn 5; the Avengers on the objective had reloaded since their efforts to kill the tyrant and now emptied again into the onrushing stealers, killing everything except for a very angry Broodlord. The weaponless Prism tank shocked into the building containing the stealers sitting on that objective. Instead of dislodging the bugs, the pilot instead got entangled in the ruins and immobilzed himself. Oh no!! He was in turn, wrecked for his efforts, making that objective their own. The other prism wounded one of the Zoeys, putting them both at a single wound, they ignored this obvious taunt and instead fired at and assaulted the reloading Avengers, successfully wounding them but failing to break their morale. The Zoeys killed another Dire Avenger, but their resolve held. Despite wounding the wraithlord again, wounding the farseer through shadow in the warp and spilling acid blood over everything, one warlock got in a lucky hit and the wraithlord finished him off. The wraithlord moved to block the broodlord's interference with the Avengers (and their objective) and the farseer and friends moved to screen the wraithlord. The broodlord moved and ran around the brainy eldar, and jumped on and ate the face of the wraithlord in revenge for killing the Tyrant. Yay for rending!! Broodlord rolled a one, failing to sweep towards the objective.

We went to turn 6. The Farseer and warlocks charged the broodlord. I honestly don't remember if they killed him or not. I remember one of the zoeys died making the DAs consolidate too far from the objective. I was laughing so hard that the details are fuzzy. The reason I was laughing is because the remaining fire prism tank shocked the dug in stealers. He managed to immobilize himself ON TOP of the wrecked prism, however the stealers in a fit of disbelief FAILED the morale check for tank shock and fled off the table!! Neither objective claimed, game results in a draw. Below is the photo of the event that had me giggling all the way home.

Fiction - Eldar short story.

A little short story I wrote inspired by a game with a friend.

Fo'glaim listened to the war-chatter of the Farseer's thought network in his mind and to the other craft cruising towards the front line. The other Eldar across the ruined Imperial outpost were moving early and so were they. His canopy display showed the mon-keigh ruins clearly despite the pre-dawn condition and off to his right he could see the dark spots which clearly marked the obelisks of the Ancient ones the humans had uncovered. He felt a twinge of nervousness go down his spine and the Farseer's thoughts once again turned his direction and sounded loudly in his head. He realized after a moment that it wasn't he the Farseer was talking to but instead to the Phoenix Lord riding in his Wave Serpent with the Howling Banshees he was directed to deliver to battle. This was his first battle as a pilot, but he was confident in his abilities. Doubt gnawed at him though, it was his duty to deliver a Phoenix Lord, Jain Zar nonetheless into battle. A truly tremendous task! If he failed in that, what would become of him?
Chun Sosai transporting the Dire Avengers was the first pilot to report contact. This wasn't surprising, it was well known that their pilot was a bit rash. It was also said that he had come from the Saim Hann craftworld and had initially learned with their Wind Riders. Chun Sosai reported 2 Falcon tanks directly ahead of him. "This is it" Fo'glaim thought as he poured on the speed trying to avoid being hit by laser fire from a third Falcon trying to outflank. Gripping the controls, he swung his transport low trying to stay close to the ground to get cover from the ruined buildings. Feeling more confident as laser fire streaked nearby but not scoring hits he allowed a smile. Jain Zar's thoughts exploded into his head then.
Get Closer! she thought-screamed into his head. He could feel the contained rage behind her thoughts. It nearly drove him into a battle lust. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for those following the Path of the Warrior. For the Banshees it must be like going to battle with a goddess on their side or worse, driving them.
He pushed the throttle of his transport gaining altitude and climbing over the ruin ahead of him. At the apex of his maneuver, he saw an enemy transport targeting him and fired first. He scored a hit, but didn't see what kind of damage he did. Clearing the building he dove close to the ground again, looking for a place to allow his charges out safely and yet close enough to the enemy to engage. He thought he spotted just such a place and began to adjust his descent when a thought-warning snapped him back to wariness. A group of Fire Dragons beyond the ruin had drawn bead on him as he cleared the building. He had just enough time to silently curse himself for letting his attention wander when the whole transport jolted violently. He saw the energy field surrounding his tank flare and fizzle as it tried to compensate for the incoming heat weapons. He also felt pain in his mind through the mindlinks to his vehicle. Everything felt sluggish as he fought to keep control of his craft. He also fought despair as he felt imminet failure in his duty, but then everything went black.

Fo'glaim awoke to two things. The first was a pounding, both in his head and on the outside on the hull, which he realized was one of the enemy's Farseers trying to wreak further havoc on the crippled craft. The other thing was the psychic howl from the Banshee warriors as they crashed into the farseer. Fo'glaim didn't think the farseer knew what hit him. There wasn't much left as the Banshees turned and took off after other prey. Jain Zar was directing them to attack something to the rear, while she ran to attack the warriors that had brought down their craft.
He quickly took stock of his situation. His craft was down, the nose buried in dirt at the base of a rock outcropping. Carbon scoring and holes decorated the front of his precious Wave Serpent. He feebly tried the controls, and checked the power circuts. There was power to life support and the secondary weapons, but he was immobilized and his main weapons were offline. A powerful explosion struck nearby and he heard the psyichic death screams of the Banshees. Craning his head around and looking through the rear of the canopy he could see the ground littered with bodies amidst a crater. Beyond them was a squad of Dire Avengers reloading their weapons. Obviously they'd emptied them into the Banshees. Suddenly frantic, he glanced around. Dire Avengers didn't carry firepower enough to make a crater! Then he spotted it. That flanking Falcon had levelled them with a shot in their midst! It was drawing bead on him now. He curled up into a ball as best he could inside his cockpit in an attempt to protect himself. He could feel the hair stand up on his head a moment before the lasers rocked the entire vehicle sideways slightly. The dreaded explosion never came, but the rest of the systems registered no power.
The third Wave Serpent from his warhost slid into view to his left and just above as it disgorged the eerie Wraithguard onto a hill nearby. They were obviously trying to secure that hill as the enemy had deemed it valuable. Before the other craft could get clear, a missle slammed into the tank! The dull thrum of the engines became a pitiful whine as the grav systems failed. The other Wave Serpent settled to the ground with a crunch nearly on top of his own, but the pilot still had weapon control and began firing at whatever targets he could find.
Ahead, Jain Zar became a whirling storm of devestation as she engaged the Fire Dragons in combat. They pushed forward to meet her charge, but they met only death accompanied by the sound of her battle scream amplified by her mask to strike fear in the very soul. Not many could stand up to that onslaught, and they were no exception. Her blade cut them down one after another. They attempted to fight back, but seemed little threat to her. Before she could finish the squad off however she was set upon by the enemy's own Banshees! Terrible screams and flashing blades filled the air. Alone she stood against a full squad of her own Aspect. She turned aside blow after blow as she struck down her own kin. Her own warriors. They fought by her teachings, but she couldn't defeat them all. Blows were landed that cut through her armor as if it weren't there. Wounded and bleeding, she laughed. The mask amplified it into a horrible thing. The Banshees were not prepared for this and, gripped in fear they had not known before, fled from the battlefield. The Fire Dragons occupied her long enough for the Banshees to make it safely away before they were cut down. Fo'glaim watched as she turned and headed back his way. He could feel her fury burn as she saw the devastation that was only moments ago her own Banshee warriors littering the field. The Dire Avengers that had helped cut them down were climbing back into their own downed transport to finish reloading. She was very intent on them and didn't see the enemy Falcon bearing down on her until it was too late. Laser and missle fire hit all about her. When the smoke cleared there was nothing left.
Fo'glaim screamed at the Falcon in rage. He pounded on the canopy trying to get it open. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he had to do something. Maybe he could distract it to keep it from killing any more of his kin. He had just tripped the manual release when the enemy tank's own grav engines spat fire and it settled to the ground. Looking over his shoulder, Fo'glaim saw his own warhost's Falcon hovering nearby. The turret gunner gave him a thumbs up before swinging his guns around at another target.
Three jetbikes screamed down from above settling in a defensive position next to his tank. Whether they were there for his protection or some other reason he never knew. Before the jetbikes had finished moving into position they all exploded from the hail of shuriken from the freshly reloaded Avengers. Fo'glaim had dived back into his seat from the flurry of monofiliment disks peppering the hull of his craft. He didn't know what to do. He could try and run, but that enemy tank was still out there, even if it were immoble now. Those Avengers were going to reload and then come finish him off. He was sure of it!
Moments passed. The sound of laserfire and explosions had all but died down. He risked a peek out of his cockpit. Back towards his own side it looked like figures were cheering in the ruins. He looked round for the enemy Avengers but they were gone!! The opposing force were quitting the field. Somehow, they'd won!!

Much later, as the bonesingers were trying to coax his crippled craft out of the ground, he wandered over to the crater where he'd last seen her. He scoured the area but couldn't find any sign that Jain Zar had ever been there. No scraps of cloth, no broken armor, nothing. It was like she hadn't been there at all. He looked off in the distance wistfully, content in the knowledge he'd seen something that other Eldar lived their whole lifetimes and never witnessed. He'd seen a Phoenix Lord in action, doing what they do, the only thing they knew how to do. He smiled to himself hoping that it wasn't the last time he'd see it either.