ROUND THREE - ASTRA MILITARUM
First platoon started off the firing, unloading on the Hulking Avatar of Khaine lumbering their way... but the fire seemed to have no effect on it at all
Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death rode the.... five?
The Sniper Section poured fire down on the Wraithblades - finishing off one of them!
Second Platoon broke cover and rushed the Aeldari Rangers position.
At close range, Lt. Ibrahim Kirdar directed their fire on the Rangers positions and when the dust cleared... not a ranger was to be found!
1st Platoon's Command section moved to a firing position to bring supporting fire down on the Swooping Hawks to the rear of their position.
Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die! Into the valley of Death Rode the... five.... Charging the Avatar of Khaine. Mesamaenes, the Warlock, joined in the fight as well.
One of 1st Platoon's Infantry Squads joined in the Melee.
AS the Rangers on the objective had been dealt with, one Squad from second Platoon charged the Farseer all alone in the open.
The Mortarmen continued their Melee with the Swooping Hawks - taking out two of them!
1st Platoon's 3rd Squad continued their melee with Jain Zar...
and were pretty much slaughtered... completely unable to even land a blow on the Phoenix Lord!
When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made! All but Corporal Maalouf, leading the squad of Roughriders were taken out by the frightful molten mountain swinging the giant flaming sword...
ROUND THREE - AELDARI
The Wraithblades scaled the rocky outcropping and assaulted the Sniper Section.
Jain Zar finished off all but Sergeant Hamid - who had been leading 1st Platoon's 3rd Squad... he later failed moral and left the table (actually he ran to help his wounded men, and jain Zar, seeing he would no longer take part in the battle, moved on...)
The Autarch joined in the fight between the squad from 2nd platoon and the Farseer. It did not go well for the Tallarn Infantry Squad....
ROUND FOUR - ASTRA MILITARUM
The remains of the Heavy Weapons Squad fell back from their battle with the Swooping Hawks and 1st Platoon's Command Squad moved up to cover their retreat - taking out two of the Swooping Hawks!
The Wraithblades continued massacring the Sniper Section. By the end of the turn, only one remained.
Lt. Ibrahim Kirdar directed the fire of the remaining Squad from 2nd platoon on the two Aeldari leaders left in the open after they wiped out their sister Squad. The Farseer was grievously wounded and the Autarch was taken out of action.
The confused melee between Mesamaenes the Warlock, The Avatar of Khaine, Corporal Maalouf, and the squad from 1st Platoon raged on!
ROUND FOUR - AELDARI
Not wishing to just stand there and be cut down, Ja'ade the Farseer charged the Tallarn position.
She took out one or two of the defenders, but was eventually succumbed to exhaustion and her wounds.
ROUND FIVE - ASTRA MILITARUM
Jain Zar charged 1st Platoon's Command Squad...
... and after cutting them all down, turned on Lt. Anwar Al’Saphira - commander of 1st Platoon!
Corporal Maalouf finally fell - as did most of the Infantry squad engaged with Mesamaenes the Warlock and the Avatar of Khaine!
ROUND FIVE - AELDARI
Things were looking pretty sparse on the tabletop. The battle had really been back and forth for a bit. During the first turn it looked really bad for the Eldar... a turn or two later when the Phoenix Lord and Avatar got stuck in it started looking very, very bad for the Astra Militarum! Around Round Four it looked like the Tallarn might just hold out to Round Five and if they could hold on to two of the objectives would win the game... but by this point in the game things were looking pretty grim for the Imperial Guard...
One Squad holding an objective, being eyed up by Mesamaenes the Warlock and the Avatar of Khaine! They'd just wiped out a squad of Roughriders and one of the sister squads in their platoon... Surely they would charge this turn... Could the brave souls of the Guard hold on long enough to contest the objective at the end of the Round...?
the Wraithblades once again charged the remaining member of the Sniper Section - who had fallen back from the melee to try and secure the objective... It was a brave but foolhardy move. She was no match for the Aeldari Wraithblades. By the end of the Round, that objective would be securely in the hands of the Eldar.
The Swooping Hawk Exarch - all that remained of warriors from his shrine - dropped from the skies behind the remains of 2nd platoon and unleashed a volley from his Hawk's Tallon - taking out one of the Tallarn crouching behind cover there... not enough to make a difference on this end of the battlefield.
If being charged by Mesamaenes the Warlock and the Avatar of Khaine weren't bad enough, Jain Zar also joined in the assault on the rains of 1st Platoon.
The Phoenix Lord gracefully danced through the squad, cutting and slicing as she went.
The Avatar slogged through as well - the Wailing Doom singing as it fed on the souls of the Tallarn it cut down.
We rolled for game end... and the game could have continued... but I called it. The writing was on the wall at this point.. The Eldar were pretty securely holding on to two of the objectives and there was NOTHING on the table that could have shifted them from either. The Tallarn held one, the other was not held by anyone.
It is possible that the Heavy Weapon Section could have hoisted their guns not their shoulder and high-tailed it over to that objective to try and secure it on Round Six... but, at the bottom of the round, jain Bar would simply have pranced over there and slaughtered them, giving the Eldar THREE of the four Objectives...
All in all a great game - there was a bit of tension - feeling like it might have gone either way for a little bit. We learned a bit more about the Eldar (Sweet Jupiter - Avatars and Phoenix Lords are NASTY! the Wraithblades were nothing to sniffle at either!). The Girl it totally stoked about getting the rest of her Eldar painted up and already talking about our next game!
Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:
Finnegan's discovered Naomi Novik's "His Majesty's Dragon" and is thoroughly enjoying it! I loaned him some books on the Napoleonic wars (mostly uniform books - so he could imagine the soldiers in their proper uniforms as he read the books! Though none contain the tack and saddlery for dragons...) Perhaps in the not-too-distant future we might see some Dragon Rampant/Rebels and Patriots mash-up wargaming! Perhaps this will be the excuse we all needed to finish painting the dragons we all got in the Bones Kickstarters!
I've been trying to switch gears and get some other stuff done, but I'm super STOKED to paint some more ELDAR now!! Also there is a TEAM Tournament coming up in June, I think I might try to get a bunch of Amanda's Drukhari painted up for Finnegan to use, so he can team up with me and The Girl and... someone else...? (4-person teams, unfortunately Amanda will be away that weekend...)
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What a bloody battle! (fitting when the Avatar shows up) Mortar men in close combat is amusing, and usually a sign that things are going poorly...
ReplyDeleteI guess that's what happens when two forces desperately want to hold an objective - the Aeldari because they needed to recover priceless artifacts of vital importance to the survival of their craftworld, and the Guard... well... because they didn't want to have to answer to commissars or the INQUISITION about why they failed to do so!
DeleteUsually I'm a bit better at spreading things out so it's harder for deep-striking elements to get behind my lines like that... but amazingly those mortared held their own against the Swooping Hawks! Honestly the Hawks should have stayed out of class assault and just las-blastered them to bits - like they did with the first mortar squad!
Sometimes quantity is important. In this case though, it seems it meant more casualties :(
ReplyDeleteTowards the end of the game I got a lucky shot in with a Krak Missile and knocked a bunch of wounds off the Avatar! Probably should have started firing ALL missile launchers at it from the get-go... Then again, once it's in close combat, you can't really shoot at it anyway.
DeleteWhen you have NOTHING that can damage these things, the best you can hope for is that you have enough stuff that they can't kill it all fast enough and eventually run out of time!
Two great looking armies in lovely terrain, what's not to like? I was thinking, your spar Eldar guardians,I'm sure I've seen some one lightly converting them to dark Eldar,as they aren't as specialised? Unless you already have tons(always possible!)
ReplyDeleteBest Iain