1750 means tournament-scale lists. Well spotted.
Roll for mission and deployment. We managed to roll up Capture and Control. Nice. Everyone likes playing Capture the Flag. And we rolled up a 5 for deployment. Which meant Dawn of W...Pitched Battle. Yep. A '5' for deployment means Pitched Battle. Doesn't it! *shakes fist*
Anyway, my opponent rolled for first deployment...Except then gave it to me. Poop. I hate moving first. Ah well, with Bikes and Land Speeders, hopefully I'll have the speed to have a 'second deployment' in the first turn if he deploys to combat my units.
I placed the objective in a two-storey building. I Combat Squadded all my Bikes into four units, placing three Melta weapons in a fast unit makes me happy. And had dedicated Bolter units. AP5 vs. Eldar was going to be great. I set down Captain Falcon and my brand new unit that I had spent the past week on. A Command Squad on Bikes, with Storm Shields. My opponent asked me what the Hell they were. I said there were Toughness 5 with a 3+ Invulnerable Save, along with Feel No Pain. My opponent groaned.
I deployed my Land Speeders, one in the middle of my Deployment Zone and one on the left near my Melta bikes. I declared Ironclad Ozai (ten Useless Points for the reference) in the Drop Pod, and said my units of Scouts would be Infiltrating.
His Deployment, he plopped his Avatar opposite my Melta weapons. Crap. Crapcrapcrap. Some of you may remember my very first Battle Report I posted in the Playground where I was schooled in the ways of the Avatar. Yeah. This is the same opponent. Incidentally. That was the battle that Falcon bagged his first Avatar.
He set down three Wave Serpents. Oh dear. Wave Serpents and Melta weapons don't mix. Ah well, at least I'm not losing anything by shooting my Missiles at Wave Serpents instead of the Meltaguns. He declared Fire Dragons and Dire Avengers. He put his Harlequins in cover near the Avatar. Put his objective in the middle of his deployment zone in no cover. I was like :smallconfused:
Then he put Wraithguard smack-bang on the objective. I counted. Yep. Ten of them. Double crapcrap. "The Warlock has Conceal." ...Oh. Triple crap. Yeah, I'd barely be able to budge that unit. And that wasn't even counting the 12"
kill DEATH-zone that surrounded all Wraithguard, especially in those numbers (ten).
He declared Scorpions and Rangers. No Guardians. Figures. It wasn't looking good for Captain Falcon and his friends.
I dropped both my Scout units in the building with my objective in it. He lined his Scorpions up in front of my Bikes. Which I thought was a pretty bad move. He deployed his Rangers back in his own deployment zone, since he recongised that I had no Large Blast weapons, and wasn't going to get shot to crap in the first turn, and put his Ranges in with his Harlequins.
First Turn
Straight away, I moved both my Melta-Bike units across to the centre of the field staring the Wraithguard in the face (but outside that 12" circle of death) and Captain Falcon and his Command Squad Turbo-Boosted off to the left setting up in front of the Avatar, the two units performing an X move, trading positions on the board. My Bolter-Bikes and Land Speeders advanced up the board and took a position in front of the Striking Scorpions.
Ironclad Ozai dropped down behind the Rangers (more like Ironclad Ohai, amirite?). Assault Cannons and Heavy Bolters rained a metal storm on the Scorpions. However, Scorpions have Space Marine technology, and their 3+ saves was enough to stop half the unit from getting killed. And that's when I shot 20 Twin-Linked Bolter shots into them. The unit was brought down to just the Exarch left.
The Scouts opened fire on the Wave Serpent containing the Fire Dragons. That Wave Serpent got Weapon Destroyed (Starcannon) and Immobilised. Awesome.
Ironclad Ozai activated the BURN! ability. He may have been aiming at the Rangers, but, the wide ends of the Flamer template actually covered more Harlequins. :smallbiggrin:
And since I was shooting at the Rangers, and using Template weapons, the Harlequins' Shadowseer couldn't do much about it.
...Rolling 2s to kill. I scorched five Rangers to a fiery grave, and got about seven Harlequins between the two Flamer templates. He rolled some pretty sweet Invulnerables and I only managed to kill three of them. One of which had a Harlequin's Kiss.
Due to standing near the Avatar, the Rangers and Harlequins both decided to be Fearless. And the Scorpion Exarch stood his ground. Standing in the middle of the field dual-weilding his Chainsabres, he told the Bikes to come get some...
I ran a unit of 5 Bolter Bikes into the Scorpion Exarch, because
Relentless is awesome. The Scorpion Exarch said he was totally a bad-arse. And rolled four hits...then (re-)rolled three wounds. And I failed three saves.
The Sergeant watched his brothers die as the Scorpion had set himself for the charge dodging and weaving and cleaving heads as the Bikes sped by...Then he was met by a Space Marine riding a Bike...Using a Power Fist for a 'clothesline' maneuver. The sergeant and remaining Biker consolidated towards the Fire Dragons...I instantly regretted my decision.
In the greatest stroke of...Idiocy (:smallconfused:) ever, my opponent moved the Avatar away from the Dreadnought, and towards Captain Falcon. I think the fact Falcon had killed that particular Avatar three consecutive times was clouding his judgment.
The Harlequins doubled back over the Rangers and moved towards the Ironclad. Two Wave Serpents sped along the field, jumping out. I could see the
Bladestorm in my opponent's eyes already. The Fire Dragons moved towards the two lone Bikes.
The Rangers opened fire at the closest Land Speeder and dropped it out of the sky. The Fire Dragons roasted one of the Bikes. Leaving the Sergeant on his own. My second squad of Bolter Bikes, and one squad of Melta Bikes took 27 Shuriken Shots. Each. And here I was thinking 20 Twin-Linked Bolter shots at
one squad was impressive... :smallfrown:
Two Bolter-Bikes died, whilst the Attack Bike, and two Bikes from the other Squad took wounds. Rolling 5s To Wound, followed by 3+ saves is actually kind of amazing.
Then the Wave Serpents opened fire. Killing the low-strength squads.
At the moment, I now have;
x5 Bikes; Sergeant with Power Fist
x3 Bikes; x2 Meltaguns. Plus an Attack Bike.
One Attack Bike with one wound left.
The Avatar unleashed an attack at Falcon and his squad. Causing a wound.
I went to pick up a dice.
"Oh, it's AP1."
"They've got Storm Shields..."
"FFFUUU-" he wasn't pleased.
The Harlequins Assaulted the Dreadnought in the greatest moment of failure that I've ever seen. Essentially, it amounted to
At Front Armour 13, the Harlequins were relying on Furious Charge, two Harlequin's Kisses, to score 6s to Penetrate, followed by another 5+, to
glance. That wasn't happening. Ozai crushed two Harlequins, and, due the proximity of the Avatar, another two fell to a stiff breeze. Wussy xenos.
I was feeling confident now. The initial deployment had me pooping my pants. The Wraithguard, though, they still scared the crap out of me.
Turn 2
The Bolter Bikes moved towards the Fire Dragons, whilst the Melta Bikes circled around behind the Wave Serpent, and the 1-wound Attack Bike circled back around the other.
Falcon disengaged from his Command Squad, they sped off to one side, blocking the LoS of the Rangers by having giant Bikes right in front of them. And Falcon sized up the Avatar.
The Fire Dragons went down to a hail of Twin-Linked Bolter fire. One Wave Serpent was Destroyed by 3 Melta weapons, and the other was Shaken. The Scouts opened fire on the Dire Avengers, killing more than enough. One squad was Pinned with eight models and the other was down to six models. But, Heavy Bolters and Assault Cannons from the Land Speeder are AP4 and kill Dire Avengers dead. Now below half-strength, they ran.
Falcon's Command Squad spat off some shots at the Avatar, the Avatar turned to face them, and laughed off the shots as from 10 shots, the Avatar failed to take a single wound. Distracted, the Avatar forgot Captain Falcon - The Slayer of Khaine. Hellfire Rounds punched into the Avatar, causing a single wound, which Falcon followed up by speeding into Assault.
The Avatar brought down his firey sword of death. Dealing two wounds to our hero Captain Falcon. Falcon put out four attacks, four hits. 3 Wounds. Two failed saves. Draw combat. The Avatar was down to one wound (all dealt by Falcon), likewise, Falcon was on his last wound. And, the Avatar had Initiative.
Maybe, maybe this time Falcon had bitten off more than he could chew?
Without Furious Charge this round, the Harlequins literally couldn't take Ironclad Ozai. Ozai was one of the original Raven Guard veterans sent out to found the Hawk Lords Chapter. However, Ozai was now a Hawk Lord, and had been for centuries. He had felt the loss of the 7th Company just as keenly as the rest of the Chapter. And, like all the Hawk Lords, he was convinced that the Eldar were behind the disappearance.
"FEEL THE FURY OF THE LOST!" Ozai crushed more Harlequins beneath his hammers. And, again, the proximity of the Avatar felled another disciple of the Masked Eldar God, while the other made an Invulnerable save against...Nothing. The Harlequins
Hit & Run getting away from the implacable Dreadnought, which allowed Ozai to move into the cover.
Being under half strength, the Dire Avengers failed to rally, while the other squad was pinned. The rangers opened fire onto the Command Squad, causing a wound. Only to be blocked by Feel No Pain. Bikes with Storm Shields and Feel No Pain? I think I may have just found my new favourite unit of all time. ALL TIME!
(And now I need to name my Company Champion 'Kanye')
The Harlequins ran away from the Dreadnought and ploughed into the Command Squad instead. Maybe they would prove an easier target...They weren't. Toughness 5. 3+ Invulnerable. Feel No Pain. Do the math. I really don't think it gets any sweeter than that. I'm truly glad I finally got to field this unit. Especially after last week where I had to use an army I didn't particularly like, against an opponent who I
really didn't like...
Anyway, the Command Squad have three attacks each (:smallamused:) as Command Squads '
may take' Storm Shields, rather than replace things for them. :smallbiggrin: And
the model Kanye sliced up a few more with his Power Weapon. Once again, the Avatar of Khaine made the disciples of the Laughing God stick around for no apparent reason and take more wounds. There were only two Harlequins left now. And they'd failed to do anything useful the entire game. Unless you count 'tying up a Dreadnought so it can't use dual-Flamer templates' as something useful. I would. But it just doesn't
seem useful.
The Avatar brought back his Wailing Doom weapon. The scream of rage, and fury of all the Eldar people brought into one being, brought down his mighty weapon on the thrice-blessed Lord of Hawks...Miss. Miss. Fail to Wound. Storm Shield...
Captain Falcon came out from behind his shield...
"FALLLCOOONNN..."
NO screamed
my opponent the Avatar NOT AGAIN
"PUUUNNNCH!!!"
Turn 3
Ironclad Ozai activated the Burn Ability against the Rangers. There were no survivors.
All my Melta weapons were directed against the Wave Serpent in the middle of the board. It was destroyed. Taking one Dire Avenger with it. Rolling a '7' on the vehicle damage chart is always fun.
18 Sniper Rifles and 2 Frag Missiles were directed against the remaining squad of Avengers. There were no survivors. Even though one Frag Missile did scatter onto my Attack Bike, and take it's last wound. The Bike Sergeant said something unflattering about noobs over the Company Comms. EMPEROR DAMN IT SCOUTS! THAT'S WHY THE TACTICAL MARINES WONT PLAY WITH YOU!
The Command Squad was stuck killing Harlequins. One died to a Rending shot, Storm Shields can't save you all the time. However, the Command Squad struck back, with the Apothecary slamming his drill - used for cutting open power armour-covered, ceramite-laced Space Marine sternums to get to their delicious
stem cells gene-seeds - into the Shadowseer's face. Feel No Pain indeed.
All's that was left was Wraithguard. And a Wave Serpent with a Shuriken Catapult still on it. Needless to say, Ozai cracked the Wave Serpent open like a pinata, only to realise that the delicious candy inside had already got out of the Wave Serpent.
During Turns 3 and 4, the Wraithguard unleashed their guns of doom onto the Bikes. Wraithguard shoot. Everyone dies. Captain Falcon rejoined the Command Squad to
cower in fear have other people die for him. And turns 5 and 6 were spent with the Wraithguard and Command Squads wailing on each other. To absolutely no effect. At all. Drawn combats for two straight turns (4 rounds of Assault).