After getting the jetbike squad painted to tabletop standards, the Windriders were immediately rushed into action in a 1850pt Spoils of War battle against ... the Death Watch by John!
Talking about super-elite funkiness, the Death Watch mon-keigh could be equipped with just about anything. And they can do funky stuff like almost everyone can deep strike (and easy to arrange for no scatter), split firing, mixed squads, special rounds everytime you shoot, etc.
I might be off on some of the details, but John's Death Watch was made up of:
Brother Captain Artemis (amazing scaled down model of Inquisitor fame)
5 Death Watch veterans - 1 with heavy bolter, and I'm sure the rest were funked up too
5 Death Watch veterans - with 4 (four!) heavy bolters that can move and shoot as normal
5 Death Watch assault marines - including a couple with the uber S10 hammers
5 Death Watch assault marines - more uber S10 hammers!
5 Death Watch terminators - including 4 (four!) with cyclone missile launchers
5 Death Watch bikes - with 3 plasma guns
1 Death Watch venerable dreadnought - with plasma cannon
The renegade Alaitoc Windriders was the same list as before:
CAD:
Farseer Lahnn on jetbike - Spirit Stones of Anathlan, singing spear
3 jetbikes - scatter lasers
3 jetbikes - scatter lasers
3 jetbikes - shuriken cannons
3 jetbikes - shuriken cannons
3 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannons
3 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannons
6 Swooping Hawks - exarch with Hawk's Talon
Hemlock
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
Aspect Host:
5 Fire Dragons with exarch
- Wave Serpent with twin-linked bright lance, shuriken cannon
8 Warp Spiders, exarch with twin-linked death spinners
8 Dark Reapers with exarch
This battle looked one-sided at deployment. The mon-keigh were outnumbered, outgunned and outmanouvered. And the Eldar got first turn!
Unfortunately, there were no surprises. The Death Watch were almost tabled after 3 turns. We called the game at the bottom of Turn 3. The score at that point was 11-1 to the Eldar.
The Death Watch only had 2 bikes and 3 terminators remaining. The Eldar had lost their Dark Reapers and a jetbike squad. The Fire Dragons didn't even get the chance to disembark and spent the entire time watching the battle from the comforts of their Wave Serpent (I believe there was some Elven version of popcorn and soda served on board too).
There were a couple of interesting moments though. It was the first time I managed to use Eldritch Storm. And that pyschic power is not funny if you're on the receiving end. The gigantic template covered 3 Death Watch squads, AP3 Fleshbane. They could only rely on Feel No Pain and Artemis' squad had cover saves. But the blast was spectacular, and many of the mon-keigh's finest perished in that one blast.
Another unfunny moment was perhaps the first time I actually used the Warp Spiders' flicker-jump to full effect. They were about to be lit up at short range by 4 Death Watch heavy bolters - when they suddenly flickered into the warp and came back behind a large wall, out of line of sight. I did feel sorry for the mon-keigh.
A couple days later, we decided to play another game with the Death Watch, and this time I brought my Thousand Sons. That's Ahriman, 2 favored Thousand Sons squads, 1 Rhino, 1 Heldrake, 1 Land Raider, 1 Predator, 1 Defiler, allied Lord of Change (His Exalted Lord Ka'Kaa), and a pack of 10 Horrors.
This time the Death Watch had: Artemis, 5 Death Watch veterans, 5 Death Watch assault marines (with them hammers of course), 5 Death Watch termies with 4 cyclone missile launchers, 2 squads of 5-man Death Watch terminators (each with an assault cannon), 5 Death Watch bikers with 5 (five!) plasma guns, 1 Death Watch venerable dreadnought and an allied 5-man squad of assault terminators of the Ultramarines.
The Death Watch started first and had the upper hand for the first 2 and a half turns (and was leading 6-1 at that time), but from the bottom of Turn 3 onwards, the Emperor's watchful eye strayed from his hapless servants and through a combination of sorceress magicks, tactical prowess and good fortune, the Thousand Sons carried the day with a 10-7 score, including First Blood (Defiler got that one on Turn 2 when he finished off the Death Watch bike squad which he charged in the previous turn), Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker.
Some of the funniest (not at that time, but in restrospect it warrants some mirth) moments was Ahriman's first pyschic phase. Three times he let loose Psychic Shriek on a squad of hapless Death Watch terminators - for zero wounds scored! In fact, he did score one wound - on himself! That was simply an abysmal psychic phase, to say the least.
Another highlight was the first time I got to use Lord Ka'Kaa's (the Lord of Change) Prismatic Gaze (yes folks, it was a week of trying out big Warp Charge 3 spells), which he cast successfully on the Death Watch venerable dreadnought. And of course, I rolled a '6' on the D table.
All in all, it was a brilliant week of dice-rolling. This next couple of weeks I'll hopefully get back into painting - finishing off the 3 Dark Reapers and 2 Warp Spiders, as well as the terrain for my table.
Keep them dice rolling!
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