Monday, June 20, 2011

Death to the Eldar Xenos!

 

The league battle vs Iqbal's Eldar xenos was epic!

The city terrain is always a challenge, and my troopers were obviously not quite urban as time and again they struggled to negotiate the rough rubble terrain. At the outset, the sheer numbers of Brandenburg infantry was intimidating for the Eldar, who were heavily outnumbered (though way more mobile). The IG troopers' anti-tank lascannon platoon deployed in the tallest building in town, with excellent field of fire. They did well, though they quickly drew the attention of the xenos' massive 6 War Walker (with a total of 12 scatter lasers) firepower, amongst others (the platoon survived though, with 6 men making it out of the battle).

The xenos' fearsome Fire Dragons in their Wave Serpents sped right down the IG left flank, intent on knocking out the Imperial Laser Destroyer and Leman Russ Executioner shoring up the flank. Intense lascannon and missile launcher fire could not stop the xenos onslaught, and the 2 hapless tanks were blown up by 2 squads of Fire Dragons. The Eldar tank-busting elites were quickly cut down with cold steel in a spirited charge delivered by 2nd platoon.

On the right flank, the xenos Fire Prism quickly lost its main weapon to melta fire, but managed to survive the battle. In fact, the tank managed to contest one of the objectives. In general, the Brandenburger anti-tank shooting was less than impressive - destroying only 1 Wave Serpent, immobilizing another 2, and damaging the Fire Prism. Leman Russ concentrated battle cannon fire was quite effective in cutting down enemy War Walkers (although a couple survived).

The most epic action was when the Company Command, backed up by 2nd platoon command, made a dash to contest the sole objective held by Eldar Dire Avengers (the only other xenos troops, Guardian jetbikes, was fleeing after suffering 70% losses due to lasgun and grenade launcher fire). The Eldar could still master a pretty impressive weight of fire: 3 scatter lasers (twin-linked or guided), 1 shuriken cannon (twin-linked), and 5 Dire Avengers. The Company Command squad was mercilessly cut down by massed scatter laser fire - except for the standard bearer, who heroically held his ground, bleeding from several gaping wounds, uniform and armor battered by the intense xenos firepower. Unfortunately, the ensuing charge by the War Walkers brought this brave Guardsman, who shall forever be remembered in the annals of the great warriors of Brandenburg.

The battle ended up in a draw. Thanks to the xenos' superior skimmer technology, they managed to contest 2 of the objectives held by 1st platoon. The Eldar were badly mauled though, losing all their Fire Dragons and a Farseer amongst others. Shoulda been a Kill Point game :) ... it was tons of fun! Thanks Iqbal for a great game!