Safehouse Tourney - What a Blast!

The 40k tourney on 9th September at Safehouse was simply a blast! As usual, I had zero expectations, but real big kudos to Safehouse, the TOs, my opponents and everyone who was there. I truly had a great time, which the whole point of a tourney.

The tourney used ITC rules and we each played 3 games. I brought a slighlty adjusted version of the Windrider army I brought to Singapore in the previous tournament:

FALCHU WARHOST OF ALAITOC

Windriders of Alaitoc (Outrider Detachment)
Farseer LahnSeiraPartecion - Farseer Skyrunner with Singing Spear
7 Fire Dragons with Exarch
4 Windriders, each with shuriken cannon
4 Windriders, each with shuriken cannon
4 Windriders, each with shuriken cannon
8 Dark Reapers, Exarch with Tempest Launcher
2 Wave Serpents, each with hull shuriken cannon and turret shuriken cannon, and Spirit Stones

Wings of Khaine (Air Wing Detachment)
Hemlock, with Spirit Stones
Hemlock, with Spirit Stones
Crimson Hunter Exarch, with bright lances

ROUND ONE
The first battle was against an angry-looking Blood Angels army, led by the golden boy Dante himself.

If my memory serves well, the army was a battalion detachment with:

Dante
1x Captain
1x Apothecary
1x 5-man Assault Terminator squad
2x 5-man Tactical squads
1x 5-man Scout sniper squad
2x 5-man Devastator squads
2x Land Raider Crusaders

The terrain was ... sparse! A couple of craggy hills, a couple of woods. And a nice bastion for the mon keigh Devastators. And I got so used to the dense terrain in Balau and AB too ... But it looked good, so all was good.

I think the scenario was Secure and Control. The Blood Angels had first turn and proceeded to advance on my position. The Land Raider Crusaders, screening Dante, engaged at extreme range and gunned down bikers from the lead Windider squad that didn't hide well enough. I used 2 CPs to make sure the sole survivor didn't run away and give away First Blood.

From my turn 1 onwards, the battle was one-sided. The 2 Hemlocks managed some fancy pin-point flying, lining up close to Dante and killed him with Smite and a volley of heavy D-Scythe. Combined fire from the Crimson Hunter and Dark Reapers heavily damaged a Land Raider Crusader (down to a couple of wounds), and massed shuriken fire wiped out the scouts. To make sure the other Land Raider Crusader didn't use its awesome firepower, the lone surviving jetbiker charged it, survived the hail of incoming overwatch rounds and ended up with the pic of the tournament for me.

The battle ended with a decisive Eldar victory. Blood Angels were left with 1 Devastator marine and the Captain with 1 wound left. The Eldar lost 4 jetbikes and a couple of Fire Dragons.

ROUND TWO
Officially, my opponent's army is Sisters of Battle. But it looked like AdMech to me.

I really don't know either army well, but it was something like:
St Celestine
The insane fat AdMech boss dude
A skinny AdMech character dude
A small squad of AdMech snipers
SOB squad
SOB Retributors with heavy bolters
6 of those uber shooty Baymax robots
4 of those gangly AdMech walkers with lascannons
Eversor assassin
Commissar (I think)
50 Conscripts

I think the mission was The Scouring. Which meant that there was no First Blood, but Big Game Hunter for me meant having to kill the 6 Baymax bots.

What really saved me was terrain. There was enough LOS-blocking terrain to mitigate the Baymax uber shooty squad. Hearing that they can dish out 2x 54 shots a turn, and the fact that they also represent the Big Game Hunter VP, they became priority target. Unleashing almost all my firepower, the bot squad was wiped out in 2 turns.

Eldar pretty much controlled the game - right until Turn 3. I wasn't paying attention to time, and it turned out that Turn 3 was the last turn. Bent on killing St Celestine, I changed my mind about embarking the 4 surviving Dark Reapers (Big Game Hunter VP on my side) into the safety of their Wave Serpent in order to add to the weight of fire. Turned out I didn't need the firepower as the living saint fell to massed shuriken fire. But when she came back, she killed the Dark Reapers AND scored Linebreaker, and therefore winning the game.

Losses were heavy. The Eldar lost both Hemlocks, the Fire Dragons, the Dark Reapers, and 3 jetbikers. The mon keigh lost the Baymax squad, one of the lascannon walkers, the assassin, both SOB squads, and a bunch of conscripts.

ROUND THREE
This was against the Saim Hann who brought an Engine of Vaul in the form of a Scorpion grav super-heavy tank.

The smelly Saim Hann had:
1x Farseer Skyrunner
1x Autarch Skyrunner
2x Warlock Skyrunners
7 jetbikes with shuriken cannon
15 Guardians w bright lance weapon platform
Wraithlord
2x Fire Prisms
Scorpion super-heavy grav tank

The terrain was ... worse than sparse! And with an uber shooty long ranged weapon on the enemy side, this was going to be tough.

I won this narrowly, making a couple of noob mistakes in the process. One of them was not resisting the temptation to attack the Scorpion with my Fire Dragons. The Dragons' volley plus Dark Reaper fire crippled it, but I should have followed up with a charge to force it to move. Either that or I should have concentrated on wiping out the rest of the army instead.

As it turned out, losses were heavy on both sides. The Alaitoc were left with only 3 Windrider squads, the Farseer and 1 Wave Serpent. The Saim Hann were left with the Farseer, the Autarch, the Warlocks, half the jetbikes and a crippled Scorpion. A narrow victory which I could have made better.

All in, it was a fantastic experience. I ended up in 6th place and had fun throughout. I look forward to the next tourney. Congratulations to the winners and to Safehouse for an amazing tourney!

Faizal's Crimson Fists - Best Sportsmanship

Kadir's Raven Guard - Best Painted (and to me, awesomely fluffy)

Chris' IG - Best General (just realized I don't have an army display pic)

First 2k Tourney in 8th Ed!

It's been a long time since I wrote anything here. And an even longer time since I played in 40k tournaments.

I have been slowly dipping my toes back into 40k tournaments for a couple of months now - but nothing serious. By not serious, I mean I just use existing models and paint jobs, and have zero practice games in.

I played a doubles event at Alexandria in the dying days of 7th ed, using a 1,000-pt version of my AirCav, teaming with Amin's Ravenwing. And a 1,000-pt 8th ed kick-off tourney using my Brandenberg IG.

But last Saturday was what I regarded as my first real 40k tourney since 2009, which was also in Singapore. In between then and now, I was very involved in a lot of the early Legio tourneys, but not as a player.

The Road to War 2,000-pt 40k tournament held at and run by the good folks at Gamersaurus Rex was a blast! It was a tiny tourney, but the terrain, the TOs, the players, the atmosphere and the whole thing was just a lot of great fun! I also really enjoyed that they chose to use the ITC ruleset. It was my first experience with the ITC rules, and I must say it's a brilliant set of rules and scenarios for tourneys.

I brought my Eldar Windrider army for the tourney. In the run-up to the tourney, the army went through several iterations. The list started off as a direct port from my 7th ed list, complete with Fire Prisms and Warp Spiders, but without the scatterbikes. After a few weeks of lots of 40k games, learning the Craftworld Eldar index, learning 8th ed itself, trying out stuff, and lots of fine tuning, I ended up with the following list:

FALCHU WARHOST OF ALAITOC

Windriders of Alaitoc - Outrider Detachment
Farseer Skyrunner - jetbike, singing spear
8 Fire Dragons, with Exarch
3 squads of 4 jetbikes, all armed with shuriken cannon
8 Dark Reapers, Exarch with tempest launcher
2 Wave Serpents for the Aspect Warriors, both armed with twin shuriken cannon in the turret and a chin-mounted shuriken cannon. The Fire Dragons' Wave Serpent was also equipped with spirit stones

Wings of Khaine - Air Wing Detachment
2 Hemlocks, one with spirit stones
1 Crimson Hunter Exarch, with bright lances and pulse laser

This tiny list came in at 1,996-pts, with 5 CPs. Going in, I was expecting to have a hard time against hordes, but I really like the speed of my army.

Round 1: vs Tsui's Defenders of Macragge
ITC Combined Arms Mission 1 - Retrieval
It's a real pity I didn't manage to get a pic of Tsui's army, and of the game itself for that matter. Really nice-looking army. His list was:

Roboute Guilliman
Tigurius
Sergeant Chronus
2 Venerable Dreadnoughts with plenty autocannon dakka
5 Terminators
3x 5-man Scout squads with bolters
2x 5-man Devastator squads with heavy bolters
1 uber Predator with the funky autocannon and lascannon sponsons
2 Rhinos
1 Lord Commissar
20 Conscripts (nicely painted as Macragge PDF)
1 Acolyte
Eversor assassin
Culexis assassin

Deployment was Dawn of War and most of his army was deployed on his far right flank, anchored by a hill. His center was held by the Conscripts and a Scout squad and his left by the 2 other Scout squads. My deployment pretty much mirrored his - heavy on my left, light on my right.

I managed to get first turn and the Air Wing proceeded to attack his anti-aircraft assets, destroying one venerable dreadnought and severely damaging the other. Because of Chronus, I largely ignored the Predator until later in the battle (the tank survived with 3 wounds left).

A couple of highlights of the battle:
On turn 3, I switched flanks, abandoning my left flank and hitting his weak left and center. All the Scouts and PDF troopers were wiped out, and I easily controlled all objectives on that flank. The bulk of the Ultramarines were simply too far away to respond.

I had been using one of the Wave Serpents to screen my Farseer against infiltrating assassins. At some point, I actually forgot about that assignment and moved the Wave Serpent up to support the attack on his left flank. A Culexis assassin appeared and I was really lucky that he failed the 9" charge (with CP reroll). The nearby Dark Reapers then took care of that threat.

Aftermath: Decisive Eldar victory. I controlled almost all the Eternal War objectives, and scored almost all Maelstrom ones too, and scored Linebreaker. Neither of us got Big Game Hunter (mine were the Dark Reapers, and his was Guilliman) or Slay the Warlord. I lost a Wave Serpent and both Hemlocks. Ultramarines lost all their Scouts, the Terminators, a Rhino, both Venerable Dreadnoughts, the Commissar, the Conscripts, the Acolyte and the Culexis.

Round 2: vs Chris' IG horde
ITC Combined Arms Mission 3 - No Mercy
I really didn't want to be paired against Chris. Not only could we have done this game back home in JB, but I somehow suspected that his army's got more bodies than I had ammo. His list was:

4x Company Commanders
4x Commissars
4x 50-man Conscripts (that's 200 guys, with a potential of 800 lasgun shots combined!)
2x 10-man Infantry squads
2 mortar squads
2 Manticore
1 Baneblade
2 Taurox

I felt a little outnumbered.

Deployment was Vanguard Strike, and 3 of his Conscript blocks were deployed in line forward, with one more immediately behind the center block. The Baneblade, Manticore and other hard hitters were deployed in the rear, making ready for a first strike by my jets. My deployment was heavier to my left flank, except for the Fire Dragons on the right (which proved to be a mistake).

Again I managed to get first turn, with the Air Wing sallying deep into enemy territory. The Hemlocks made easy work of one of the Manticores, scoring my First Strike. The Crimson Hunter, with supporting long-range starshot fire from the Dark Reapers, quickly stripped away 10 wounds off the Baneblade.

Some battle highlights:
The IG return fire in turn 1 was not effective at all, which denied him what turned out to be a crucial point for not scoring First Strike.

Mortars! I would say the IG's most effective units that day were his mortars. They wiped out a jetbike squad that got within range, helped kill my Fire Dragons after their Wave Serpent was destroyed, and was even harrassing my flyers (with some special airburst shrapnel rounds I assume).

Engaging and wiping out large blocks by rolling up the flanks works just like clockwork. We all probably know this, but to see it in action is pretty cool. When I remembered to do it, I was able to wipe out more than 100 Conscripts by creeping up his far right flank and firing away. I should have done that right from turn 1, instead of waiting for them to come closer.

Spirit stones are awesome! The Hemlock with the spirit stones eventually died, but it took the IG the entire battle to shoot it down.

Aftermath: Perfect Draw. I scored more Eternal War kill-points (based on Power Levels - the Baneblade alone was 30 points). He dominated Maelstrom objectives (no way I could contest those, which is why I needed to use my massed shuriken cannon firepower from turn 1 against the hordes). I scored First Strike, he easily did King of the Hill and no one got Slay the Warlord. I lost a Wave Serpent, a jetbike squad and the Fire Dragons. The IG lost the Baneblade, both Manticores, a Taurox and 2 Conscript blocks.

Round 3: vs Gavin's Imperium Tourney Warhost
ITC Combined Arms Mission 6 - Secure & Control
Gavin came into the final game by tabling both his earlier opponents. I only managed 1 win and 1 draw. So I did feel like the underdog - a little. His list was:

Roboute Guilliman
Celestine
2x 5-man Scout squads - sniper rifles. One of the squads had a heavy bolter, the other a missile launcher
3 Primaris Aggressors
5-girl Retribution squad with heavy bolters
Thunderfire cannon with attendant Techmarine
Lord Commissar
50 Conscripts
Culexis assassin
2 Stromravens

Deployment was Spearhead Assault and Gavin made good use of the huge ruined complex near the center to anchor his line, Conscripts bubble-wrapping the ground quite effectively and Stormravens in the rear in defensive positions. He was prepared to go second. I won the roll-off to start - and then he proceeded to seize the initative!

A combination of orders and Guilliman's presence saw the mon-keigh bound forwards like World War Z zombies, both Stormravens sped forwards and focused fire on my spirit stone-less Hemlock. And he survived with 2 wounds left!

Some highlights:
Scoring First Blood. That was a good feeling - starting second and still scoring First Blood. I got lucky his shooting was not so good in his first turn. The heavily damaged Hemlock sped forwards as best as it can and unloaded Heavy D-Scythe death onto the nearest Scouts, sending them to oblivion. One of the Stormravens was also destroyed under the combined firepower of a Hemlock, Crimson Hunter and massed shuriken cannon fire.

That one time when my Hemlock went for Smite instead of Conceal was a bad move. It was easily shot down in the turn after that.

Not going for Celestine was a mistake that cost me the battle. At one point, Celestine had sallied forth and charged my Dark Reapers. I could have easily fell back with the Dark Reapers, disembarked the nearby Fire Dragons and fried Ms Celestine to a crisp. He would be less aggressive with the second incarnation of the girl. Celestine was really the only unit he had (other than the flyers) that could chase down my army. Instead, the Fire Dragons went for another close target - the second Stormraven. Although they easily killed it (overkilled it, more like), the Stormraven would also have easily been crippled by massed shuriken cannon fire.

Also, with only 50 Conscripts, I should have used my shuriken firepower from turn two onwards to thin their numbers down, or even destroy the unit.

Aftermath: Decisive Imperium victory. I only managed First Blood and Linebreaker. Ignoring the Conscripts cost me the Maelstrom and Eternal War points. My army was doing ok until after my mistake with Celestine, and only the Fire Dragons and one Wave Serpent survived the battle. I managed to kill both Stormravens, the Retributors, both Scout squads, and the Thunderfire cannon.

Thoughts on the Tourney:
I thoroughly enjoyed it! Had a superb time with some excellent games with great people. A road trip to go play 40k with new opponents in a different environment is always fun, and the TOs for this tourney really helped make sure that it is indeed fun.

I ended up 3rd overall. I'm not sure what my generalship score was, but I imagine it wasn't that high with only 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss.

If I were to use this Eldar army again in another tourney, I will definitely give all eligible vehicles spirit stones. They are just awesome and totally worth the 10 points.

I enjoyed all the games I played, and each had its own character. In the first game, I was able to use my army's speed to outmanouver the mon-keigh, but his skill in using the assassin threat minimized the effectiveness of my hard-hitting aspect warriors. In the second game, I got over my horde-phobia, realizing that they die faster than you think - though by turn 3, Chris just wanted to game to be over as he was getting physically exhausted moving around 200++ dudes. The last game was really enjoyable and was the most tactical for me. I had to plan and execute each move purposefully, and there was simply no room for tactical errors at all. Unfortunately, I made a few.

Thanks again to my cool opponents, the other participants, the Malaysian contingent, and a huge thanks to the awesome TOs and hosts at Gamersaurus Rex. It's a great store, and I highly recommend a visit there. I ended the day buying some excellent terrain kits from the store.

On to the next tourney!

Eldar xenos meets Ordo Xenos

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!

Jetbikes are table ready!

Just a quick update - in a frenzy of last minute painting, the 6 new scatter laser jetbikes are ready for battle, which happened just an hour after the bikes were painted.

I finished up the weapons, shading, gems, helmets and runes. I also took out the Hemlock and painted additional gems onto it, but didn't get around to adding more runes.

After I unpacked it onto the gaming table, I realized that I forgot to finish the helmets - the faceplate details weren't painted and the helmet runes were not there.

O well, that's something that I need to get back to then.

After this, I'll need to paint 5 more models to get this iteration of my Windrider Force full painted - 3 Dark Reapers (including the Exarch), and 2 Warp Spiders.

I'll post the batrep next, or at least a summary of the battle.

Keep them dice rolling.

Khorne clash at Balau

 It's been awhile since I had a game with Kadir and on a weekend back to KL, we managed to squeeze in a late-night 40k game on the hallowed battlefields of Balau.

I brought the same 1850pt Alaitoc Windrider Warhost (which is actually a CAD), which is WIP with about 6 bikes, 2 Warp Spiders and 3 Dark Reapers currently being painted. Here's the list:

Eldar Combined Arms Detachment
HQ:
Farseer - jetbike, singing spear, Spirit Stone of Anathlan
TROOPS:
3 jetbikes - scatterlasers
3 jetbikes - scatterlasers
3 jetbikes - shuriken cannons
3 jetbikes - shuriken cannons
3 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannons
3 jetbikes - 2 shuriken cannons
FAST ATTACK:
6 Swooping Hawks - Exarch with Hawk's Talon
Hemlock
HEAVY SUPPORT:
Fire Prism
Fire Prism
Aspect Warrior Host
5 Fire Dragons with Exarch
Wave Serpent - twin-linked bright lance, shuriken cannon
8 Warp Spiders - Exarch with twin-linked deathspinners
8 Dark Reapers with Exarch, starshot missiles

The Khorne army was quite formidable. Something like:
Kharn the Betrayer
Daemon Prince - Nurgle, wings, Mastery Level 3
8 Khorne Berzerkers - Champion w powerfist
Rhino
8 Khorne Berzerkers - Champion w power axe
Rhino

8 Khorne Berzerkers - Champion w power axe
Heldrake - baleflamer
Land Raider
Predator - lascannons
Predator - lascannons

We got Tactical Escalation with Hammer and Anvil deployment, and while Chaos got to choose table sides, I got to deploy and start first, which is good. Funny enough, my army list was flexible enough for me to not really be concerned about the kind of Maelstrom mission and deployment.

There was single 3-storey ruin in my deployment zone on my right flank, and it was quickly occupied by the Dark Reapers. One Fire Prism hung around behind that ruin, next to the Wave Serpent, while the other Fire Prism covered the left flank. Jetbikes were deployed on each flank and center, shuriken cannon ones to the fore, scatter laser ones in a second staggered line. One of the scatpacks hung around near the Fire Prism on the right flank behind the ruin, joined by the Farseer. Swooping Hawks will deep strike as usual, and for the first time, I'm going to deep strike my Warp Spiders.

Turn 1 Highlights
Kharn's Land Raider is a priority target as it's only 2 turns' charge range away. Lance fire from my Fire Prisms managed to knock only 1 hull point off the beast, and it was the Dark Reapers who almost wrecked the might tank with starshot missiles, leaving only 1 hull point left.

I didn't want to bet that the single twin-linked bright lance shot from my Wave Serpent will take away the final hull point, so that skimmer went flat out forwards to block the Land Raider's path to force it to go through some woods.

Assorted shuriken cannon and scatter laser fire destroyed both Rhinos, serving only to madden the already-crazed Berzerkers pouring out of both wrecks.

Two of the most forward shuriken cannon jetbike squads on my left flank turbo-boosted deep into enemy territory, behind the ruins behind his Predators.

The Nurgle Daemon Prince flew back towards the rear-most jetbike squad, unleashing its terrible vomit torrent, killing 1 jetbiker. While his Psychic Shriek was ineffective, the dousing of the jetbikers with terrible pestilence was enough to break their resolve and they fell back.

One squad of Berzerkers occupied some woods in their deployment zone, while the other advanced towards the Wave Serpent, charging it and easily destroying it, even as Kharn's Land Raider, which is by now Invisible, ploughed into the woods on my right flank in no man's land.

It turns out that the 2 Chaos Predators across from my left flank were sitting on a Skyfire Nexus! Thats' 4 lascannons and 2 twin-linked lascannons with Skyfire. Suddenly my Hemlock doesn't feel like coming in.

Those very same tanks unleashed their heavy las weaponry on my Fire Prism covering the left flank. Some deft jinking manouvers ensured that the skimmer tank was only glanced once.

Turn 2 Highlights
Streaking in on the left flank at full throttle, the Hemlock unleashed its Heavy D-Scythes on the Chaos Predators, but both shots scattered wildly away. The Swooping Hawks deep struck behind the Predators, and the Exarch showed them who's boss, single-handedly wrecking the nearest Predator with his Hawk's Talon.

The 2 jetbike squads in the enemy rear managed to knock off 2 further hull points from the remaining Predator, and shaking it.

On the right flank, I finally managed for the first time ever to cast Eldritch Storm on the Berzerkers and Kharn's Land Raider. But it turns out my Farseer was out of range. Undeterred, the Fire Dragon squad who had bailed safely out of their Wave Serpent moved forward toward the Invisible Land Raider. They scored one hit, and it was enough to wreck the mighty tank.

Massed Dark Reaper, scatter laser and shuriken fire wiped out the Berzerkers that bailed out of the Land Raider, and even left Kharn with just one remaining wound, clinging on to survival. Shuriken, scatter laser and the guided Fire Prism on the right almost wiped out the Berzerkers that killed the Wave Serpent, leaving 2 survivors (they later charged the Fire Dragons, killing the Exarch and another Dragon, but the survivors managed to escape. The Berzerkers were then easily gunned down in Turn 3).

The Chaos marines now didn't have many units left, and even the Heldrake failed to arrive. Kharn joined the Berzerkers that were in the woods, and the Daemon Prince ensured that they were made Invisible to Eldar eyes.

Once again, the Daemon Prince's Psychic Shriek attack on the jetbike squad deep in his lines proved ineffective, but his vomit killed 2 Swooping Hawks.

Turn 3 Highlights
As the Swooping Hawks Skylept back into the heavens, the Warp Spiders deep struck onto the battlefield near the surviving Berzerker squad. This is the first time I tried deep striking them into battle, and I must say I like it! But the power of Invisibility proved too much, as massed fire from the Spiders, nearly all the jetbikes, and the Dark Reapers only killed 2 Berzerkers.

The Hemlock's Psychic Shriek attack on the same squad was dispelled easily, with Kharn in that squad (actually we forgot about that, but he Denied the Witch anyways).

The only successful shooting was by the jetbikes deep in enemy territory on the left flank, who easily killed off the last damaged Predator. Tragically, the Warp Spiders' jetpack jump was only 4" - and they were well within charge range of the crazed Berzerkers.

The Chaos Heldrake finally arrived, and its terrible weapon easily wiped out, finally, the jetbike squad that has been deep in enemy territory since Turn 1. The Daemon Prince had to come onto the ground to capture an objective. However, his attempt to cast Invisibility on Kharn's squad was dispelled.

With nothing else to shoot (they wisely did not shoot at the Warp Spiders), Kharn led the Berzerkers into a frenzied charge on the Warp Spiders. A hail of monofilament overwatch fire felled 1 Berzerker, but it was a foregone conclusion as Kharn hacked and chopped almost the entire squad single-handedly, his minions taking care of the rest.

Aftermath
We called the game at the end of Turn 3 as we had run out of time (Kadir was helping run an AOS tournament the next day and needed the sleep). But without Invisibility on Kharn's squad, and with the Daemon Prince on the ground, it is most likely that the Eldar would have tabled the Chaos army in Turn 4.

In 3 turns, the Khorne army was cut to pieces, with only the Daemon Prince, a wounded Kharn, a squad of Berzerkers and a Heldrake was all that was left. The Eldar lost the Warp Spiders, a Wave Serpent and a jetbike squad. Objectives-wise, the Eldar just managed a 3-2 win.

Kadir would have done much better with his normal army, which had a stream of summoned daemons. That would have done much to dissipate my firepower.

At any rate, it was real fun time, and I totally look forward to my next game.

Keep rolling them dice!

Monday Night 40k!

This is what Monday nights should be about - dice rolling, nice models, friendly people, friendly store, new friends, and old friends.

I've been due to roll dice at JB's Alexandria Bookstore for a month now. But due to various commitments, and the fact that it was Ramadhan, I had to cancel planned gaming visits a few times. Until last night, whence the stars and planets aligned, and my renegade Alaitoc Windriders found themselves upon the bloody fields of Alexandria.

Still, to make sure that the game won't be rushed, we played an Eternal War mission: The Scouring, on a Vanguard Strike deployment. The Alaitoc Windrider Warhost is actually, rules-wise, a CAD with an attached Aspect Warrior Host formation. This is the 2nd iteration of the list, the first I tried out a couple of months back against some Tyranids. Not much changes, just some tweaking. And here's the 1843pt list:

HQ:

Farseer Lahnn - jetbike, singing spear, Spirit Stone of Anath'lan

TROOPS:

3 Jetbikes - all with scatter lasers

3 Jetbikes - all with scatter lasers

3 Jetbikes - all with shuriken cannon

3 Jetbikes - all with shuriken cannon

3 Jetbikes - 2 with shuriken cannon

3 Jetbikes - 2 with shuriken cannon

FAST ATTACK:

6 Swooping Hawks - exarch with Hawk's Talon

Hemlock Wraithfighter

HEAVY SUPPORT:

Fire Prism

Fire Prism

ASPECT WARRIOR HOST:

8 Warp Spiders - exarch with twin-linked deathspinner

8 Dark Reapers - with starshot missiles

5 Fire Dragons - in a Wave Serpent with twin-linked bright lances and shuriken cannon

My opponent is John, with his Ultramarines. He had a couple of formations in there, including the one that gives free transports, and the one that deepstrikes all the drop pods of the formation in turn 1, and I really don't recall what they are called, but his list is something like:

Chaplain (Warlord)

5-man Tactical Squad (w meltagun) in Razorback with twin-linked lascannons

10-man Tactical Squad (w missile launcher & flamer), split into 2 combat squads, with Razorback with twin-linked lascannons

Bike Squad with 3 bikes and an Attack Bike with multimelta

5-man Devastator Squad (w 4 lascannons) with Razorback with twin-linked lascannons

Venerable Dreadnought in Drop Pod

5-man Tactical Squad with 2 flamers, in Drop Pod with Deathwind Launcher

5-man Tactical Squad with 2 meltaguns, in Drop Pod with Deathwind Launcher

5-man Tactical Squad with 2 meltaguns, in Drop Pod 

Captain in terminator armor

5 Terminators, with 1 assault cannon

Land Speeder Typhoon

The Ultramarines got to choose table side, but I won the roll for deployment and started first.

Turn 1 Highlights

Since John won the roll for table side, the mon-keigh Devastators set up shop in the tallest building on the battlefield, while my Dark Reapers looked on enviously, and had to make do with an abandoned trench line that commanded a reasonable firing field, even if not the best.

I had deployed to make full use of the cover afforded by the ruins, and planned a main thrust up my left flank. The entire army, except for the Dark Reapers and the Wave Serpent, deployed on the left flank.

When battle commenced, the Warhost advanced cautiously (around 12") and proceeded to open fire on the marines occupying the first ruin in mon-keigh territory. The bike squad was cut to ribbons, the Razorback lost 2 hull points and its lascannon, while both forward combat squads were reduced to half-strength or less.

The Dark Reapers unleashed a hail of S5 AP3 missiles (that's 17 shots at BS5) at their Devastator counterparts. The mon-keigh was smart to Go To Ground, and only the sergeant was lost in the deluge of high explosives.

The mon-keigh struck back aggressively. Drop Pods roared down in front of the Dark Reapers position, and the grim Aspect Warriors received the attention of intense bolter fire, flamers, stormbolters and Deathwind missile strikes. Even with Fortune, 5 Dark Reapers perished.

Two more Combat Squads from the Drop Pods opened fire at point-blank range with their meltaguns on the Fire Dragons' Wave Serpent, but thanks to jinking and the serpent shield, the transport survived the assault with 1 hull point to spare.

On the left flank, a missile launcher, the Devastator's Razorback and a snap-firing Devastor managed to severely damage a Fire Prism, knocking off 2 hull points, shaking the crew and immobilizing it.

The Venerable Dreadnought took on the front-most Jetbike squad, killing 2 Windriders.

Turn 2 Highlights

One of the best things about Eldar is its amazing speed and manouverability. And it was easy for the Warhost to pull back almost the entire army to deal with the drop pod assault.

Swooping Hawks landed near the offending mon-keigh, grenade packs covering the marines in a lot of noise and dust, and nothing else. The Hemlock decided to not turn up from reserves this turn - wraiths!

Starting with Farseer Lahnn's Psychic Shriek, the culling of the mon-keigh warriors began in earnest. While he didn't roll very high, it was enough to put down 2 marines. I see his Psychic Shriek abilities as a progression from his early days as Mind War specialist (pest?), hence his nickname Brain Smelter.

The combined firepower of the Swooping Hawks, Warp Spiders, Jetbikes, Fire Prism, Dark Reapers and the Fire Dragons and their snap-firing Wave Serpent wiped out all the drop pod squads, as well as both Deathwind-equipped drop pods. One of them blowing up and taking 2 Fire Dragons with it.

While all this glorious death was going on, 4 Jetbikes skimmed over the Venerable Dreadnought, turned on a pin, an unloaded shuriken death into the rear armor of the dreadnought, and it exploded in a spectacular display of fire and steel. On the far left, the immobilized Fire Prism got a lucky snap-firing shot into the Razorback opposite it, wrecking the mon-keigh vehicle.

Then with Battle Focus and jump moves, the Alaitoc Warhost resumed their advance up the left flank, such is Eldar manouverability!

The rest of the Ultramarines reserves arrived. The Captain and his Terminator squad teleporting to face the lead elements of xenos, their firepower, combined with the surviving combat squads deployed at the start of the battle, wiping out the lead Jetbike squad. The Devastators could only aquire one target, the immobilized Fire Prism, and put it out of its misery with a well-laid lascannon volley.

The deep-striking Land Speeder Typhoon killed a further 2 Jetbikes with its heavy bolter and frag missiles. Twin-linked lascannons of the Devastator's Razorback took aim at the Warp Spiders, who immediately flicker-jumped. However, the mon-keigh could still see one Warp Spider, who failed his cover save and was subsequently vaporized,

On the right flank, the Ultramarines Chaplain and his Tactical squad advanced in their Razorback, disembarking and shooting at the nearest lone Jetbike, to no effect.

Turn 3 Highlights
The Hemlock finally deigned to arrive, streaking low over the mon-keigh chaplain's head and making an impossible 90 degree turn near the Devastator's position. The Hemlock's Psychic Shriek reduced the Devastator squad to one man, who was forced to fall back. This is the first time I saw first-hand how deadly is the combination of the Mindshock Pod and Psychic Shriek.

Continuing their relentless advance up the left flank, the Alaitoc Warhost focused their fire on the Captain and his Terminators. Psychic Shriek attacks, scatter lasers, shuriken cannon, deathspinners, focused blast prism cannon shots drenched the mon-keigh in a deluge of Eldar munitions, and the Terminators were easily wiped out.

Scatter lasers also destroyed the Devastator's Razorback, wrecking it in a single deadly volley. The Hemlock is not done with her death and destruction, and her double Heavy D-Scythes easily obliterated the Land Speeder Typhoon.

On the right flank, advancing Dark Reapers and the Wave Serpent opened fire on the Chaplain and his squad, killing only 3, thanks to good cover (I just realized I was shooting the Wave Serpent at BS4. It should really be BS5 as it's part of the Aspect Warrior Host).

With only a handful of warriors left, the mon-keigh shot back with whatever was left, but could not make a mark. The Ultramarines then decided that discretion is the better part of valour, and conceded the battlefield.

Aftermath
This Alaitoc Windrider Warhost is fast! It was easy to concentrate firepower on chosen targets, switching back and forth between flanks and always gaining localized superiority. It helped tremendously that the Ultramarines arrived piecemeal and their units were never able to link up and lend mutual support to each other.

As it turned out, the battle was one-sided. The only survivors from the Ultramarines' force was the Chaplain, 7 marines, 2 drop pods and a Razorback. The Eldar only lost 2 units (a Fire Prism and 1 Jetbike squad).

It remains to be seen how this army would do against a Knight- or Land Raider-heavy enemy, as the Warhost is short on heavy anti-tank weaponry with only 2 Prism cannons, 1 twin-linked Bright Lance, 5 Fusion guns, and 2 Heavy D-Scythes at its disposal.

At any rate, it was real fun, and I look forward to the next session of furious dice-rolling. Now to finish painting the Hemlock, 6 additional Jetbikes, 2 additional Warp Spiders and 3 additional Dark Reapers. And the terrain pieces too.

Thanks John for a great game, and Quake for great banter from a fellow Eldar!

Keep them dice rolling!