First things first, Matt put a lot of work into some terrain and a three-part modular table that is not done justice in these photos. It’s a masterwork and I’d like both to thank and congratulate him. In person, the grain of the underlying wood adds fantastic texture to the field, and the colors offer a rich, unique setting in a community that is typically dominated by green felt.
Now onto the battle! The armies were 1,000 points each. The deployment was Dawn of War (deployment on the long sides of the table) with night fight rules for turn 1. The mission was Seize Ground, and there were randomly four points of interest to seize. In the pictures below, three of the points are near the camera; one behind a hedge, one on a plateau, and one to the left of the jungle terrain, while the fourth is in the far right, sometimes unseen corner.
Deployment and Turn 1
Matt rolled high and chose to place terrain/deploy/act first, which was perfectly alright with me, since night rules would likely keep me safe, and my terminators were not yet in play to get messed up. My plan was to bring my Ravenwing Bikers in as deep as I could and use their teleport homer to deepstrike my Deathwing Terminators in safely. This happened, but not nearly as close to Matt as I’d have liked. In Turn 1, I managed to take out a Guardian and felt that this game was already better than our last. The picture above shows our deployment moves and gives you a sense (in blue dots) for where our first real exchanges would later happen in Turn 2.
While the arrows may seem all over the place, there was lot of movement and gun shots. My guardians got picked at pretty early, and I was incredibly unnerved when the terminators dropped down so close. But it was a smart move as far as deepstriking terminators is concerned, and while expensive kept me occupied, and took my eyes off of the objective prize for a turn or two.
Turn 2
Matt’s shooting phase quickly took the wind out of my sails. My fancy new Terminator squad and HQ were in move/assault distance, but concentrated fire from his Gravtank, Wraithlord and Firedragons killed every single one of them – with some help from his Farseer’s psychic mumbojumbo and four, FOUR! ones rolled on Terminator saves. This was an expensive and critical blow to my effort. We exchanged fire elsewhere, and his smaller guardian squad was eliminated. Above, you can see that the 4th capture point in the upper right corner is home to Matt’s larger Guardian Squad, with his Rangers a bit closer to me.
Slaying the terminators was a huge boon. Took a lot of energy and fire power as well as putting my fire dragons in direct line of fire … but also, as William stated, took the winds out of his sails. Point for point … I think I got more.
My assault phase was nearly as disappointing for me as Matt’s shooting. Having never faced a Monstrous Creature before (and arriving unprepared for the event), I mistakenly charged his Wraithlord with my Bikers, only to find that they had literally no means of damaging it – because my meltabombs were ineffective against it. As you might imagine, it did not share this problem – though it did spend a couple turns pounding my bikes instead of shooting everything else to hell.
The assault on the wraithlord was my first big break, and William’s fatal error. Unable to harm the wraithlord, and blessed with the fearless trait the bikers broke at my wraithlords feet. With my farseer so close, the better move would have been to assault the farseer … lock him up, and force the wraithlord to come to his rescue. But even the greatest generals have made major mistakes in the past.
Turn 3
My scouts are visible on the far left and continue to plod their way through difficult terrain with rolls of 1s and 2s for movement. There is no assaulting in this round, but Matt loses some Firedragons and Rangers to bolter fire. Significantly, my bikes are gone by the end of this turn and Matt’s Jetbikes have entered the field from his Reserves. I begin drinking for comfort.
He Could drink for comfort all he wanted … it would bring him little.
Turn 4
This turn wasn’t the worst. My marines and scouts eliminated the firedragons and my “jungle” tactical squad also moved back to capture the waypoint that they were slightly in front of at deployment. In terms of volume, I’m not looking bad, but I have only sniper rifles and a plasma gun to punch through Matt’s armor, so it looks like my points are inevitably going to be contested. Meanwhile, his large guardian squad slowly strings itself out to stay relevant in the shooting phase, while still controlling its point, and the rangers begin to make their way to the point behind the hedge. Still, the Jetbikes, a scoring unit, lurk at Matt’s table edge.
The elimination of my fire dragons was foreboding … but it bought my rangers and jetbikes time. My remaining units were able to close the gap and assault or distract William’s troops and gain the upper hand. The most important part of this turn was a frowning of the dice god’s in William’s direction. Both of his units’ morale broke … though it ultimately benefited them … or prolonged the inevitable.
Turn 5
This turn was all about the movement phase. Eldar Tank, Walker and Bikes pressed forward to reach the 3 inch distance they need to cancel out my captures. Fire from the Gravtank and Wraithlord weakened both of my troop units the Wraithlord’s assault brought it in range of the jungle waypoint – enough to contest. Though not reflected above, I’m also rather certain that the Jetbikes moved within range to contest the middle point in this turn – leaving me with zero and Matt with his corner capture.
Yes my corner capture … truly the greatest use of 130 pts. They were left alone … and pestered the tactical squad holding the middle hill side objective with plenty of Eldar plasma missiles. The jetbikes sort of played their part up until this point … come in reserve … stay out of fire, claim/contest an objective … all for 76 pts.
Turn 6 & 7
These were clearly not necessary, but allowed time for Matt’s rangers to capture the hedge point and for his Wraithlord to kill my (now decommissioned) Scouts. With three points held by Eldar and one held by the space marines – who did valiantly charge and destroy those pansy jetbikes – the battle ended with little mercy left to offer.
With the destruction of the Jungle tactical squad (who only survived so long because of the cover offered by the jungle) the wraithlord removed William’s claim to the waypoint objective. Unfortunately in an assault with tactical marines … my jetbikes had no chance.
Aftermath
Having won this battle, Matt will receive some manner of important leg-up in the 5th battle, which will ultimately decide the campaign’s victor – I can only hope that I’ve learned to play my army by that time.
Additionally, two victorious units and the last remaining space marine unit gained experience! Using the rulebook chart, my lone living tactical squad appropriately earned the Fearless special rule. Showing that I still bear the Emperor’s blessing, Matt’s Wraithlord rolled a special rule that it already had (ZING!)
The win resulted in the rangers claiming the middle objective and the guardians on the far right objective. Another victory sealed for the mighty swordwind.
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